The Constitution of the Ottoman Empire, promulgated in 1876, was suspended the next year by Abdul Hamid after parliamentarians criticized his handling of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878. During the war, Kurds massacred thousands of Armenians and destroyed dozens of their villages. Russia's decisive victory forced the Ottoman Empire to cede parts of eastern Asia Minor, the Balkans, and Cyprus. At the 1878 Congress of Berlin, the Sublime Porte agreed to carry out reforms and guarantee the physical safety of its Armenian subjects, but there was no mechanism for enforcement; on the ground, conditions continued to worsen. As an object of international diplomacy, Armenians were used by the great powers for the first time to interfere in Ottoman politics. Although Armenians had long been considered the "loyal millet" in contrast to Greeks and other nationalities who had earlier challenged Ottoman rule, after 1878 Armenians ceased to be regarded as loyal and were instead constructed as subversive and ungrateful in the minds of Ottoman leaders.