The Committee of Union and Progress in the Ottoman Empire adopted Social Darwinist ideology. Belief that there was a life-or-death between Turks and other ethnicities motivated them to carry out genocides and ethnic cleansing campaigns against the Armenians, Assyrians, Kurds, Greeks and other groups. Social Darwinism enabled them to view extermination of entire population groups and the murder of women and children as a necessary and justified course of action.