Armenian Genocide
Why was the Armenian Genocide Forgotten? GENOCIDE 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. FORGOTTEN 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. OTTOMAN EMPIRE 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 Armenians, a Christian minority, lived as second
class citizens subject to legal restrictions (Graber 119). These restrictions
denied them normal safeguards. Neither their lives nor their properties were
guaranteed security. As non-Muslims they were also obligated to pay
discriminatory taxes and denied participation in government.
In its prime of the
sixteenth century the Ottoman Empire was a powerful state. Its minority
populations really benefited with the growth of its economy, but by the
nineteenth century, the empire was in serious decline(Graber 121). It had been
reduced in size and by 1914 had lost virtually all its lands in Europe and
Africa. This decline created enormous internal political and economic pressures
which contributed to the increasing tensions among the races (similar to
Germany’s way of blaming the Jews for their economic decline). Armenian
aspirations for representation and participation in government worried the
Muslim Turks who had never shared power in their country with any minority.
Demands by Armenian political organizations for administrative reforms in the
Armenian-inhabited provinces and better police protection only invited further
repression. During the reign of the sultan Abdul Hamid, a series of massacres
throughout the empire meant to dampen Armenian expectations by frightening them,
cost up to three hundred thousand lives by some estimates and resulted in
enormous material losses on a majority of Armenians. In response to the crisis
in the Ottoman Empire, a new political group called the Young Turks seized power
by revolution in 1908. From the Young Turks, the Committee of Union and Progress
(CUP) emerged at the head of the government in a coup staged in 1913. It was led
by a triumvirate: Enver, Minister of War, Talaat, Minister of the Interior, and
Jemal, Minister of the Marine (Hovanissian 15). The CUP spewed
ultra-nationalistic culture which promoted the establishment of an exclusively
Turkish state. It also promoted thoughts of conquering other regions inhabited
by Turkic peoples, almost like our Manifest Destiny. 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.
The Ottoman armies initially
suffered a string of defeats. Whether retreating or advancing, the Ottoman army
used the occasion of war to wage a scam campaign of massacre against the
civilian Armenian population in the regions in which warfare was rampant. These
measures were part of the genocidal program secretly adopted by the CUP and
implemented under the cover of war. They coincided with the CUP's larger program
to eradicate the Armenians from Turkey and neighboring countries. Through the
spring and summer of 1915, in all areas outside the war zones, the Armenian
population was ordered deported from their homes. Convoys consisting of tens of
thousands including men, women, and children were driven hundreds of miles
toward the Syrian desert. In April of the young Turks convinced leaders of the
Armenian population to meet to discuss the new orders for all Armenians to
march. This meeting attracted political leaders, church leaders and other
intellects of the community(Graber 130). Sadly but planned by the Turks, the
leaders were all killed and the poplulation was left leaderless. Leaderless, the
Armenians knew that they were in trouble but had no one to turn to. With no
other choice, the towns and villages were forced to listen to the Turks. The
Turks followed a textbook strategy of annihilation; destroy the leaders, disarm
the populace, and use the big lie. 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. First the Armenians were asked to turn in
their hunting weapons for the war effort. Communities were often given quotas
and would have to buy additional weapons from the Turks to meet their quota.
Later, the government would claim these weapons were proof of the Armenian plans
to rebel. The able- bodied men were “drafted” to help in the wartime effort.
These men were either immediately killed or worked to death. Now the villages
and towns, with only women, children and elderly left, were systematically
emptied. The remaining residents would be told to gather only what they could
carry for a temporary relocation.
The Armenians, again, obediently followed
instructions and were “escorted” by Turkish gendarmes in death marches. The
death marches would lead across Anatolia and the purpose became clear as soon as
the Armenians hit the trail. Along the way the Armenians were being raped,
starved, dehydrated, murdered and kidnapped. The Turkish gendarmes either led
these atrocities or turned a cold shoulder. Their eventual destination for
resettlement was supposedly the Syrian Desert. Those who miraculously survived
the march to the bleak desert were either killed upon arrival or somehow found a
way to survive until escape was found. Usually those few that survived received
assistance from friendly Turks. 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.
At first, I was startled by their comment and asked them to tell me all they
knew about the Armenian genocide. This person wrapped up the one-minute
discussion by suggesting that I choose a different topic. As I began to
research, though, I realized that they were way off, and that all that I had to
do was dig a little deeper. I scratched the surface of a major issue that is
still the hot topic of many heated debates to this day. 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. In fact, if it weren’t for some relatives that are active
in the Armenian community of my home town I would have never heard of it either.
Now, more than ever, awareness and respect for all those that died and for those
that helped the survivors escape can be expressed on April 24 remembering the
initial day that the political and intellectual Armenian leaders were murdered.
There is no doubt that the Turkish authorities made a deliberate decision to
exterminate the Armenians, that they sent this decision to involved officials,
political, administrative, and military. Those who did not comply were removed
from their duty. When all was said and done, approximately 1.5 million out of a
total of 2.5 million Armenians were killed. This would be like someone killing
nearly 60% of all Americans living today. That would put a significant dent in
our population. 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. What is most appalling is the idea that anyone
could justify such an act. Throughout my research I came to the frightening
assumption that somehow there are Turkish historians who maintain that the Young
Turkish government is innocent of any charges of genocidal actions. For anyone
to believe that such organized mass murders of the sort that went on in the
Ottoman Empire could be executed by any such institution other than the
government itself is totally unfounded and irrational. The only time that I have
ever heard Turkish official admitting to the possible occurrence of an Armenian
genocide was when one man stated something along the lines of “We should have
killed all the Armenians when we had the chance.” Hitler himself felt confident
enough in the world’s selective memory to be quoted at a meeting of his SS units
(his personal murderous secret police). At this meeting he ordered his men “to
kill without pity, men, women, and children for who,” he asked, “remembers now
the massacres of the Armenians”(Vahatai 89).
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