Armenian Genocide1
Why was the Armenian Genocide Forgotten? By definition genocide is the organized killing of a people for the express purpose of putting an end to their collective existence (Webster's dictionary). As a rule, the organizing agent is the nation, the victim population is a domestic minority, and the end result is the near total death of a society. The Armenian genocide generally conforms to this simple definition. The Armenian genocide is a hidden, almost lost part of world history, pretty much eclipsed by the more publicized genocide of the twentieth century, the Holocaust. The question is why. I could take a poll of this room and I am willing to bet that 95% of the students have ever even heard of the Armenian Genocide and those who have couldn't tell me more than a couple sentences about it. This is pretty scary, considering the statistics of the Armenian Genocide. The Ottoman Empire was ruled by the Turks who had conquered the land from across West Asia, North Africa to Southeast Europe. The Ottoman government was based in Istanbul and was headed by a sultan who was given absolute power. The Turks were Islamic and were a harsh disciplinary civilization. The Armeni
With no other choice, the towns and villages were forced to listen to the Turks. The Armenians, again, obediently followed instructions and were "escorted" by Turkish gendarmes in death marches. It was led by a triumvirate: Enver, Minister of War, Talaat, Minister of the Interior, and Jemal, Minister of the Marine (Hovanissian 15). For a number of reasons they did not know what was planned for them and went along with "their" government's plan to relocate them for their own good. Their eventual destination for resettlement was supposedly the Syrian Desert. This person wrapped up the one-minute discussion by suggesting that I choose a different topic. At first, I was startled by their comment and asked them to tell me all they knew about the Armenian genocide. Only adding to my interest, I discovered that several of the textbooks of my girlfriends textbooks used in her history classes do not make any significant mention or reference to the horrible massacre. Leaderless, the Armenians knew that they were in trouble but had no one to turn to. This would be like someone killing nearly 60% of all Americans living today. " When World War I broke out in August 1914, the Ottoman Empire formed part of the Triple Alliance with the other Central Powers, Germany and Austria-Hungary, and it declared war on Russia and its Western allies, Great Britain and France. This incomprehensible number and the fact that such an act could have been carried out by the institution that was implemented to protect and to guide them is pretty profound. When I started to develop an interest in this topic I was discussing it with a teacher from my highschool who, in all honesty, thought that I would have trouble accessing information on such a limited issue. Its minority populations really benefited with the growth of its economy, but by the nineteenth century, the empire was in serious decline(Graber 121). Demands by Armenian political organizations for administrative reforms in the Armenian-inhabited provinces and better police protection only invited further repression.
Common topics in this essay:
Syrian Desert,
Turks Turks,
Ottoman Empire,
France Ottoman,
Armenians Christian,
Forgotten GENOCIDE,
April Turks,
Armenians Turkey,
Europe Africa,
Abdul Hamid,
armenian genocide,
ottoman empire,
armenian population,
women children,
death marches,
participation government,
turkish gendarmes,
syrian desert,
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