On this day, 110 years ago, on June 17, 1915 (May 5, 1915), Turkey massacred a large number of Armenians. Many Armenian families fled Turkey and took refuge on a French cruiser on June 17, 1915. "Those who are innocent today may commit crimes tomorrow." Turkish Interior Minister Talat Pasha approved the arbitrary "exile" of Armenians. The majority of Turks are Muslims, and Christian Armenians make up only a minority of the population. If the fate facing Armenians is really just the pain of exile, they can be thankful. In fact, the Armenians were driven to a secret location and killed quickly. On this day, the German ambassador to Constantinople sent a telegram back home describing Turkey's strategy. "The Ottoman court took advantage of this war to put the domestic enemy, the Christians, to death," he wrote in the cable. The army rounded up the "rebellious" Armenians, put them in caravans and transported them to the wilderness deep in the northern desert, where they were shot dead. Armenians had been scapegoats for centuries. In the 1890s, 300,000 Armenians were massacred. In January 1914, hundreds of Armenians in the Turkish army were disarmed and executed on charges of espionage.