ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Timeline of Armenian national movement

Once upon a time in a land called Armenia, there were people who wanted to be in charge of their own country. This is called the Armenian national movement.

The story starts in the late 1800s when Armenians in Ottoman Turkey started protesting because they were not being treated fairly. They were not allowed to have equal rights and were often attacked and killed just because they were Armenian.

One of the leaders of the national movement was a man named Armenak Yekarian. He started a group called the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) in 1890 to fight for Armenian independence.

In 1915, the Ottoman Empire started to deport and kill Armenians in what is called the Armenian Genocide. This made the national movement even stronger, and many Armenians started to fight back against the Ottoman Empire.

After the Ottoman Empire was defeated in World War I, Armenia declared independence in 1918. However, they had to fight against the Turks and Azerbaijanis to keep their freedom. Sadly, they were not successful in keeping their independence for long and were eventually taken over by the Soviet Union in 1920.

But the national movement did not stop there. In the 1960s and 1970s, Armenians living in Soviet Armenia started protesting for more freedom and independence. This led to the formation of the Armenian National Movement (ANM), which was a peaceful movement that used protests and strikes to demand change.

In 1991, the Soviet Union was dissolved, and Armenia declared independence once again. The national movement had finally achieved its goal of having its own country.

Today, the Armenian national movement continues to fight for recognition of the Armenian Genocide and for the rights of Armenians living in other countries, such as Nagorno-Karabakh. They want to make sure that Armenians are treated fairly and have a voice in the world.