Remembering The Armenian Massacres

A century after the massacres and mass deportation of Armenians who lived in the Ottoman Empire, two BBC journalists travel to Turkey to start a quest about Armenian history.

Lara Petrossians from BBC Persian visits city of Van in eastern Turkey to learn about her ancestors who a century ago fled to Iran and Rengin Arslan travels to Eskişehir to find out about what happened to Armenians who used to share her homeland. As they discover their families' very different versions of the past, they try to understand why the story of the massacres continues to be so difficult to tell. Armenians say one and a half million people died, while the Turkish government says it was many fewer.

The killings remain extremely controversial, with the Turkish government resisting Armenian calls to recognise them as genocide. They're rarely spoken of or taught in Turkish schools.