Armenian Genocide Research Paper

The Armenian people are known to have begun around sixth century B.C. The Armenians are ancient people who speak an Indo-European language and have traditionally inhabited the border regions to Armenia, Iran, and Turkey. Armenians lived in Anatolia and West Armenia for about 3,000 years until the 11th century when they were defeated by Central Asian tribal armies. Since then, the Armenians have lived as subjects to several Turkish dynasties (Centuries of Genocide). Armenia was the very first nation to accept Christianity as its state religion. Armenia was an independent kingdom before it was taken over by the Ottoman Empire in the 15th century.

The Ottomans created a huge empire going from Eastern Europe to Western Asia and North Africa. Armenians were Christians and Ottoman rulers were Muslim. The Armenian’s were a minority group under the Ottoman Empire and they were often treated unfairly. The Ottoman Empire deprived Armenians of their rights. Armenians had to pay higher taxes than Muslims, they had fewer legal rights and they were not allowed to vote.

Even though they faced these challenges, the Armenian’s did very well under Ottoman rule. They were wealthier than the citizens of Turkey and they received a better education. It wasn’t long before Turks began to resent the Armenians. They did not trust them or their loyalty to other Christian governments.

The Ottoman Empire began to fall apart in the 1800’s. As the empire disintegrated, Greeks, Serbs and Romanians achieved independence. Only the Armenians and the Arabs of the Middle East remained in the Ottoman Empire which was ruled by Sultan Abdul Hamid (unitedhumanrights.org). They Armenians demanded fairness from Sultan Hamid and wanted security from Kurd...

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...problem is that Turkey is an ally to America and recognizing the Armenian genocide would harm relations between US and Turkey (Common Dreams). The United States needs Turkey for the war on terrorism because they have an airbase that the US forces use to get supplies to troops in Iraq.

Several Resolutions have been presented to the US Congress over the years to recognize the Armenian Genocide. On May 20, 2013 HR Resolution 227 was introduced by the House of Representatives calling on the President “to work toward equitable, constructive, stable, and durable Armenian-Turkish relations based upon the Republic of Turkey’s full acknowledgment of the facts and ongoing consequences of the Armenian Genocide, and a fair, just, and comprehensive international resolution of this crime against humanity.” (H. Res. 227). The Bill is currently pending approval by US government.