History's Forgotten Atrocity: The Armenian Genocide

Genocide is one of the worst crimes against humanity and it still continues today. The definition of the word genocide is the deliberate killing of a large group of people, especially those of a particular ethnic group or nation. Compared with war crimes and crimes against humanity, genocide is generally regarded as the most offensive crime. Unlike war, where the attack is general and the object is often the control of a geographical or political region. Genocide attacks go after an individual’s identity and the object is control, or complete elimination, of a group of people. The history of genocide in the 20th century includes the 1915 genocide of Armenians by

History is a phenomenon that has the propensity to repeat itself. Genocides have been committed throughout history, even before the term was assembled in 1944 and accepted by the United Nations in 1946 as a crime under international law. According to the United Nations, genocide is defined as “intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.” A minimum of twenty-seven genocides have been documented across the world. During the 20th century, the Armenian Genocide and the Ukrainian genocide (Holodomor) transpired. Currently, in the 21st century, the world is witnessing another brutal genocide occurring in Myanmar. A kindred pattern of events is perceived throughout the duration of genocides along with

The Armenian massacres of the 1890 's are an important marker in the history of humanitarian aid by the United States. Before this point, American humanitarian aid had been up to small committee efforts thrown together for an individual international crisis. During the 1890 's humanitarian reformers became more organized and elected officials began to look at the role the United States federal government could play in international humanitarian aid. (Wilson 27) At this time Protestant missionaries and Armenian nationals joined forces with former abolitionists, woman suffragists, and newspapermen to bring the condition of the Armenians to the attention of the citizens of the United States.

Between the years of 1915 and 1918 the Ottoman Empire, under the Young Turks began a deliberate program of removing and exterminating the Armenian population; a population already dismantled through previous massacres. The Armenians were a minority in both population and religion. Because most Armenians were Christians, they were made an easy scapegoat in an empire that was mostly Islamic. With the world’s eyes on the First World War, the Armenian Genocide went mostly unnoticed and there were no punishments such as ones received by Germany after the Holocaust. The United States has deliberately avoided the recognition of the Armenian Genocide of 1915 in order to maintain an ally in the Middle East and to avoid American genocidal policies,

Mass extermination and deportation of Western population of Armenia, Cilicia and other provinces of the Ottoman Empire carried out by the ruling circles of Turkey in 1915-1923. The policy of genocide against Armenians was due to several factors. The leading role among them was the ideology

The Turkish massacre of the Armenians during World War I is very similar to the Holocaust but on a much

There were many reasons discussed for why the Armenian massacre should be called a genocide or not. The first definition of Genocide adopted by the United Nations stated “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious groups as such (De Waal 2015).” Many believed the meaning of the words “as such” is not clear and some deny that the massacre was “committed with intent”- an argument made frequently in Turkey (De Waal 2015). Even though many alleged perpetrators believe that the massacre was not committed with intent, the Ottoman Empire did attempt to wipe out an entire ethical group. The Armenians were either deported or killed and many women were either beaten or raped. The Armenian diaspora saw the word genocide as the perfect word to describe what happened to their parents and grandparents. They Armenian Diaspora began referring the Meds Yeghern as “the Armenian Genocide”, which sparked a political movement. This political movement was established in 1965 which marked the 50th anniversary of the massacre and the Armenian diaspora was out to seek

In 1914 through 1918, the Turks, while they were still labeled as the Ottoman Empire, were in a war with Russia and were afraid that one of their occupied lands, Armenia, would help Russia since they both were Christians. This forced the Turkish government to decide that it was time to eliminate the Armenians by blaming and killing them for their alleged betrayals. Even today, Turkey still denies they committed genocide. The massacre that took place in the Ottoman Empire between 1914-1918 should be considered genocide because it went through all eight stages of genocide, especially highlighted preparation and extermination.

Turkey’s involvement in the World War 1 provided cover for extreme elements of the very nationalistic Young Turks regime to carry out the genocide. The genocide started in 1915, culminated in 1917 and was characterized by mass deportation, slaughter, starvation and raped. Those Armenians who were conscripted in the Turkish army were executed and this was explained as a natural occurrence of war. Pasha was the Leader and chief executor in the mass execution.

A genocide is “the deliberate killing of a large group of people, especially those of a particular ethnic group or nation”. Many genocides have occurred throughout history. Nobody can change what happened in the past but they can try and get disclosure. Many people have been able to get disclosure but not everybody. The Armenian Genocide took place in 1915 and continued until 1917. During this time period more than half the population of Armenians were killed. If that wasn’t bad enough, some people still refuse to acknowledge that it ever happened.

To rid the world of the horrid people that the Young Turks were, a small number of the remaining survivors of the Armenian genocide took it into their hands to kill the Turks in retaliation and to further prevent them from killing again. From 1920 to 1922, a group of Armenian men carried out Operation Nemesis, tasked with killing the Turks who had escaped to Germany in hopes of surviving the wrath that would be waiting for them in Armenia. Starting on May 28, 1918, the Armenian National Council declared the independence of Armenia. Hovhannes Kachaznuni and Alexander Khatisyan, both members of the ARF, moved to Yerevan, Armenia to issue the announcement of Armenian independence on May 30, 1918. Yerevan then became the capital city in Armenia.

The Armenian genocide has several main causes: European meddling in Ottoman internal affairs, nationalism, economic jealousy, and Armenian involvement in the Russian war effort. Though, a lot of the causes are interrelated. For example, nationalism and European meddling go hand in hand. What exactly was the Armenian genocide? Well, the Armenian genocide was a state orchestrated machine of mass-murder and rape of the Armenian people, and several other ethnic groups, of the Ottoman Empire 1915-1923. The Armenians were one of many ethnic groups of the Ottoman Empire, and they had lived in eastern Asia Minor for around three thousand years prior to the atrocity .

The concept of Genocide is the eradication of a certain group of people based on their race, religion, culture, and ethnicity. For example, the Armenian Genocide that occurred in 1915. The population of the Armenians were at 2 million, but after World War I, the Turkish government annihilated 1.5 million people so they could create a new empire with just one religion.

‘For the purpose of this Statute, ‘genocide’ means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group…….’

“Never forget what you are, for surely the world will not. Make it your strength. Then it can never be your weakness. Armour yourself in it, and it will never be used to hurt you,” is how George R.R. Martin, the author of the Game of Thrones series, explains the power of identity. Every single one of us belongs to ethnicity or ideology that we should never be ashamed of. In fact, I am an Armenian and I am very honored by that. Hence, if I was elected as the Prime Minister of Armenia, I want to tackle the dominant division between the Armenians in the diaspora and the Armenians in Armenia, the struggled economy of the homeland, war and peace in Artsakh and Armenia.