Armenians are indigenous to the Armenian Highlands which corresponds to the eastern half of modern-day Turkey , the Republic of Armenia , southern Georgia , western Azerbaijan , and northwestern Iran . Although in 1880 the word '' Armenia '' was banned from being used in the press , schoolbooks , and governmental establishments in Turkey and was subsequently replaced with words like eastern Anatolia or northern Kurdistan , Armenians had maintained much of their culture and heritage . The Armenian population of Turkey was greatly reduced following the Hamidian massacres and especially the Armenian Genocide , when over one and half million Armenians , virtually the entire Armenian population of Anatolia , were massacred . Prior to the Genocide in 1914 , the Armenian population of Turkey numbered at about 1,914,620 . The Armenian community of the Ottoman Empire before the Armenian genocide had an estimated 2,300 churches and 700 schools ( with 82,000 students ) . This figure excludes churches and schools belonging to the Protestant and Catholic Armenian parishes since only those churches and schools under the jurisdiction of the Istanbul Armenian Patriarchate and the Apostolic Church were counted . After the Armenian genocide however , it is estimated that 200,000 Armenians remained in Turkey . Today there are an estimated 40,000 to 70,000 Armenians in Turkey , not including the Hamshenis
Hamidian massacres
Hamidian massacres
Minorities in Turkey