During the Armenian Genocide of 1915 the monastery housed a large number of Armenians escaping the deportations and massacres . Turkish forces and Kurdish irregulars sieged it , but the Armenians within resisted for more than two months . According to contemporary reports , around five thousand Armenians were massacred " near the wall of the monastery " , while the monastery itself was " sacked and robbed " . According to the American missionaries Clarence Ussher and Grace Knapp , the Turks slaughtered " three thousand men , women , and children " gathered at the courtyard of the monastery on command of a German officer
Armenian Genocide
Armenian Genocide
Surb Karapet Monastery