The Armenian Genocide and the American Response

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April 24th, 1915 marked the beginning of the first genocide of the 20th century, the Armenian Genocide. From April to October, 1918 approximately 1.8 million Armenian Turks were murdered by their fellow Turks. Leaders of this genocide were never brought to justice. The Turkish government managed to cover up the crimes, going as far as blackmailing other countries into ignoring the actions committed by the Turkish government during World War I. The United States is one of those countries. No recent American president in office has yet to acknowledge the events in the years 1915 - 1918 against the Armenian people as a genocide for fear of how it will affect the country’s relationship with Turkey. This fear has gone on to erase the topic from American discussion. The United States has a moral responsibility to hold the Turkish government responsible for this crime against humanity, as well as to take a step forward and have its citizens become educated about the Armenian Genocide. By doing so, it will reveal the cover up, hold the Turkish people responsible, and with great hope, the American citizens will come one step closer towards participating in ending future Holocausts, Rwandas, Bosnias, and Darfurs and their cover ups.
In order to get to American citizen’s responsibility, one must first understand the events of the Armenian Genocide and its cover up. One needs to look at how these events transpired, how the trials were failed trials, and how Turkey has managed to cover up their crimes. While the Turkish people continue to deny it, the events of 1915 were very real. Starting in April 24th of 1915, thousands of important and wealthy Armenian men were either deported or put in detention camps (Knights of Vartan Armenian Researc...

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