World
Armenian Genocide: Turkish Denial
Oh, that little nation neighbouring Turkey where at least 1.5 million people were slaughtered without reason? No, no, I don’t think I’ve heard of it.
Turkey is still in denial of its history and claim that it was a just war instead of genocide. I’m sorry, but when you are attempting to obliterate the entire race, take over its entire land, and put into history that this nationality never existed, well… that kind of sounds like genocide, no?
The genocide took place in 1915, which began during WWI, which gave the Ottoman Empire a good excuse to say that it was simply part of war. However, even after WWI was over, the genocide persisted. Twenty-one nations world-wide accept the atrocities as genocide where women were raped, men executed, and elders and children forced to migrate without food or water, collapsing and dying on their way to current-day Syria. United States of America, nevertheless, did not accept the genocide, and why do you think? Maybe because of their close relations with Turkey?
What the Russians have to Say
“The Armenian Genocide resolution is a proper test for American democracy. It will uncover priorities of the United States – good relations with Turkey or historical truth”, Russian State Duma member, Konstantin Zatulin told a news conference in Yerevan October 21.
This is a harsh quote that puts into great perspective what kind of a democracy U.S is running. I think the best way to describe it would be “selective democracy.” Claim to free other nations by enslaving them under new regimes, claim to fight for justice by creating subjective injustices, and claim to be truthful and honest by buying any voices that say otherwise.
1915-1923
It started on April 24 when the Turkish government arrested 200 respected Armenian community leaders in Constantinople and taken to prisons in Anatolia. They were later murdered. Besides the fact that there were more than 1.5 millions Armenians killed following the 200, the amount of land that was stolen from them is devastation on its own. Armenia was a massive nation, but now it’s nowhere to be seen. Some atlases abbreviate it with just “Arm.” Even though we cannot bring back the millions of their people, we can at least give them retribution. Aside from the monetary retribution, the return of their land should be the main priority.
Aside from the Armenians, the Ottoman Empire had also launched a deliberate and systematic destruction of the Greek and Assyrian population. The effects were on a smaller scale, however the fact remains that the world had turned a blind eye to the crimes against humanities that were taking place at that place and time in the world. As living in a technologically advanced world where it takes only hours by plane to travel from one side of the globe to the other, I consider myself the citizen of the globe instead of just limiting myself to a single country. And since I’m a citizen of the globe, anything that happens anywhere else, no matter the country or continent, it is a burden of mine to correct any dilemma or injustice that might be taking place there. Since, however, I was not alive in that time, there was nothing I could do, but since I am alive now and I see that the injustices continue, I can stand up and actually get my voice heard along with the millions of others that feel the same way as me.
What Hitler had to Say
When Hitler was asked about whether he feared how the world would react when they would find out what he had in plan for the Jews, he smirked and replied “Go, kill without mercy. After all, who remembers the Armenians?” Even though he was completely wrong about the world not recognizing the Jewish holocaust, he might have been right about the world not remembering the Armenians. It’s a damn shame, but it’s no ones fault except the world’s. Their choice to be passive on this one, and their choice to ignore Turkish denial just attributed to Hitler’s accurate analysis.
This post was submitted by Janet Adkins.
Discussion
4 comments for “Armenian Genocide: Turkish Denial”
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It’s scary how many people haven’t even heard of the Armenian genocide. The Jewish holocaust is recognized world-wide, but there hasn’t been enough movement to get Armenia its reparation. It’s sad to hear that it’s been almost a century and barely any real action has been taken.
Didn’t the Persians and/or the Azeris try to kill off all Armos too?
@ Dolly: The Armenians never fought Iran, but they did and do have hostile relations. Armenia and Azerbajan had a territorial war, but it was occuring during the genocide, so you can say they were helping the Young Turks out, along with the Kurds. Azerbajan and Armenia had another war from 1988-94 over Nagorno-Karabakh, which the Armenians were able to retrieve.
Turkey not only denies this holocaust, but also what they did in Cyprus. Still, one should ask oneself, why is it that this massacre is almost forgotten and the Jewish one not.