A year later, the Young Turk government decided to exterminate the entire Armenian population of Turkey. The genocide that followed claimed 1.5 million victims, among them 200 of the ablest Armenian poets and authors, including two of the "Mehian" writers, Varoujan and Parseghian. Zarian was able to escape to Bulgaria before the closing of the borders in November 1914, and then to Italy, establishing himself in Rome and later in Florence.