 The "Sasun affair" was widely publicised and was investigated by representatives from the European Powers, resulting in demands that Ottoman Turkey initiate reforms in the six "Armenian vilayets".Abdul Hamid II's response to those demands culminated in the anti-Armenian pogroms of 1895 and 1896.As part of the Hamidian massacres, McDowall estimates at least 1,000 Armenian villagers were slain in the Sason atrocity, all of which was instigated by the buildup of Ottoman troops in early 1894.