While Western Armenia still remained under Ottoman rule , the Armenians were granted considerable autonomy within their own enclaves and lived in relative harmony with other groups in the empire ( including the ruling Turks ) . However , as Christians under a strict Muslim social structure , Armenians faced pervasive discrimination . When they began pushing for more rights within the Ottoman Empire , Sultan Abdul Hamid II , in response , organised state-sponsored massacres against the Armenians between 1894 and 1896 , resulting in an estimated death toll of 80,000 to 300,000 people . The Hamidian massacres , as they came to be known , gave Hamid international infamy as the " Red Sultan " or " Bloody Sultan " . This period is known as Russian Armenia
Hamidian massacres
Hamidian massacres
Armenia