sentences:  As the Ottoman Empire had been for sometime falling into political, social and economic decay (see the Sick Man of Europe) this conflict ignited the Crimean War in 1850 between Russia and the Ottoman Empire.Systematic massacres took place in 1894–1896 when Sultan Abdul killed 300,000 Armenians throughout the provinces.In 1909 government troops killed, in the towns of Adana alone, over 20,000 Christian Armenians.