At least 200,000 people, mostly refugees from the genocide, died from starvation or disease in the newly independent First Republic of Armenia, in 1918, in part due to a Turkish blockade of food supplies. Food shortages were exacerbated by deliberate destruction of crops in Eastern Armenia by Turkish troops both before and after the armistice. From 1918 to 1920, there were also revenge killings of Muslims by Armenian militants, totaling at most 40,000 to 60,000, but providing a retroactive excuse for genocide. In 1920, Turkish general Kâzım Karabekir invaded Armenia with orders "to eliminate Armenia physically and politically". According to Kévorkian, only the Soviet occupation of Armenia prevented a "third phase of genocide, this time planned by the Kemalist authorities".