The Ottoman Empire entered World War I on the side of the Central Powers and was ultimately defeated . During the war , the empire 's Armenians were deported to Syria as part of the Armenian Genocide . As a result , an estimated 800,000 to 1,500,000 Armenians were killed . The Turkish government has refused to acknowledge the events as genocide and claims that Armenians were only relocated from the eastern war zone . Genocidal campaigns were also committed against the empire 's other minority groups such as the Assyrians and Greeks . Following the Armistice of Mudros on 30 October 1918 , the victorious Allied Powers sought to partition the Ottoman state through the 1920 Treaty of Sèvres
Greeks
Greek genocide
Turkey