Devyn Bavagnoli
Mrs. Durfee
World Civilizations CPE
May 13, 2014
The Armenian Genocide
The Armenian Genocide was the mass murdering of about 1.5 million Armenians during World War I. The Turkish government denies this genocide and manages to keep it from the people. The Turkish government has scapegoated the Armenians, exterminated them by starvation, death marches, and other ways, and has failed to consider the Armenian Genocide a genocide even though there was intent to destroy the minority populations and culture, which resulted in the death of over 1 million Armenians.
Since ancient times, northeastern Turkey has belonged to the distinct ethnic group of Armenians. Most of their villages lay at the base of Mt. Ararat, which is a large mountain in northeastern Turkey. In 1071, the Turks conquered Armenia. The Turks are an ethnic group that lives to the west. Many Turks are Muslim. Before the Armenian genocide occurred, religion was a conflict between the Turks and Armenians. In 1299, the Turks began to conquer much of Asia, North Africa, and Europe. This became known as the Ottoman Empire because of its leader, Osman I (Freedman, 7).
The Ottoman Empire lasted for about six hundred years, lasting so long because of the toleration of different ethnic groups living in the walls within. Since the Armenians were Christians living in a Muslim region, they were never trusted. The Armenians had to pay special taxes in order to live in the Muslim Ottoman Empire (Freedman, 9).
The people in Turkey and the surrounding countries were already beginning to turn on the Armenians, even years before the genocide. In 1876, Abdul Hamid II, rose to power in the Ottoman Empire. Russia and the Ottoman Empire went to war in 1877. In 1894, the...
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...cterization of a genocide, seeing the deaths as among the many tragic losses in a time of brutal conflict” (Hulse, A12). There is clearly genocide, even if denied, because of the obvious death toll, disappearing Armenians, and brutality towards these people.
It is sickening how the Turkish government could deny the death of over 1 million Armenians that easily. The way that they use scapegoat on the Armenians, how they torture them and send them through death marches and camps, and then to deny it right to the public’s face. The Armenians did nothing, and just because they were a minority group, approximately 1,745,490 Armenians lost their lives. It is inhumane to even think about treating a person in that manner. The Armenian Genocide included staggering death tolls, incredible brutality, and it makes you stop to think how cruel the world truly is.
To start off with, what is genocide? Genocide is the killing of a massive number of people of in a group. Genocide has not only been practices in the present day, but it has been practiced for m...
...or them but we don’t think they pose a threat because they are so old that they might pass away pretty soon so were aware they are out there but were not on a hunt for them (Genocide Museum). You should feel the same way about both of these tragedies being wrong in every shape or form and they all needed to be punished for the crimes they did. Another thing to end this paper is that while studying about the genocide you notice that the genocides were never really talked about as much as the holocaust was and that should be changed because people need to know about the genocides and what happen in them. Everyone knows the holocaust was wrong but people don’t know nearly as much about the genocides as they should so that’s something that should change. The Armenian Genocide was just like the holocaust when it came to killing both were mass murders in every way.
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.
Much like the Holocaust, the Armenian Genocide involved the use of concentration camps and violations against natural and human rights. Through the methods of destroying the Armenians, many of them were burnt, drowned in the Black Sea, or poisoned. Despite these horrific events, the Armenian Genocide remained as an undiscussed topic worldwide because once a genocide became evident, other nations were expected to step up and help. In a matter of a few years, the Armenian population had decreased by nearly half of their population due to the uncivil acts of displacement, murders, famine, and more. The Armenian Genocide took place because the Turks felt the Armenians were jeopardising their power because their religion conflicted with the nations bordering them, the Armenians were demanding an abundance o...
There was stirring animosity between the Armenians and the Turks prior to World War I, in 1894, thousands of Armenians were massacred by the Turkish due to their religious affiliation with Christianity, which juxtaposed the Islamic Turks with whom they lived with (Greene 125). The Armenians living in Turkey have been ostracized ever since, and increased tension between the Turks and Armenians was sparked by the beginning of World War I. On April 15th, 1914 the Armenians asked for German protection from the Turks, which the German government refused to avoid offending the Turkish Government (Gunter 46). The Germans began negotiations with Turkey about a week prior to the beginning to World War I on August 1st, 1914. 8 days after Germany declared war on Russia, the Turkish governm...
In 1915 leaders in the Turkish government devised a plan to exterminate and or expel all Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire. There are several different reports varying in content, but it is believed that there were about 2 million Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire at the time of the massacre. By the 1920’s 1.5 of the 2 million Armenians were dead and the majority of the remaining had been deported. Today most historians will classify the events as a genocide ; but to this day the Turkish
The word genocide brings up images of the second world war and the Holocaust. While the actions taken against the Jews and minority groups deserve remembrance, this is not the first genocide the world has experienced. During the first world war, Armenians found themselves in a similar position of the future Jews in Nazi Germany. What is left of the Ottoman Empire begins to align with a Turkish nationalism that leads to creating a country for Turks. This brings out the changes that ultimately lead to the Armenian genocide. While this topic has been an area of conflict, the Armenian genocide is a major turning point for the Turkish people. While the name suggests only Armenians were affected, groups like the Assyrians and Greeks were also targeted for their Christian beliefs.
There are many ideas of what genocide is, but, according to Webster’s Dictionary, the official definition of genocide is “The deliberate and systematic extermination of a national, racial, political, or cultural group”. However, the more realistic and practical definition is “The unnecessary and unjustified killings of tens of thousands of innocent people all because of hate”. This was most defiantly the case in the Kurdish Genocide, which took place between 1986 and 1989. The result of this mass murdering left thousands of people without loved ones, and even more wondering why it had to happen.
Encyclopedia of Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity: "Armenians in Ottoman Turkey and the Armenian Genocide. Farmington Hills, MI: Thomson Gale, 2005. (Accessed March 20, 2014).
Every Armenian remembers the date which he/she lost a family member. On April 24, 1.5 million Armenians were systematically massacred in western Armenia during the years of 1915 to 1923. Turkish governments always denied the charges, historians and government officials relied on undeniable documents and eyewitnesses that Turkey is responsible for the crimes it committed to the Armenian people. Not very many countries recognize the massacre as a genocide, but France, Russia, Sweden, Greece, Argentina, and many others recognize the massacre as a genocide. The Armenian genocide became the primary Genocide of the twentieth century. Who are the Armenians and why was their destiny so tragic? The Armenians are an ancient nation with a very wealthy
Genocides have happened multiple times in history, ranging from small genocides to astonishing violent genocides that changed history. The Armenian Genocide was an extreme devastation of the Armenians in 1915 that was an unbelievable part of history. The Armenian Genocide happened in the Ottoman Empire and all started with the Turks hatred for the Armenians who they didn’t even want to have a say in the government. After the Turks seized power from the weak Ottoman Empire sultan, they changed the government and got extreme support to avoid external overthrow. The Turkish turned to extreme nationalism and really only allowed Turkism, and saw Armenians as a roadblock in their way, which lead to the massacre of Armenians. The Armenian Genocide was obviously outstanding, but when compared to other genocides like the Holocaust, similarities can be determined. The Armenian Genocide and the Holocaust can distinctly be compared by the discrimination, method of oppression, and lack of help from the U.S. involved in the two genocides.
On April 24, 1915 the Armenian genocide began. 1 million and 5 hundred-thousand people got killed because of Turkish government. Many of them got raped, enslaved and murdered. For instance, they drowned people in rivers, burned them alive, executed and etc. They also kidnapped children and sent to Turkish families. In many places, Turkish people rapped and used Armenian women as a slave. “The Armenians marched by Turkish soldiers” picture in “artvoice.com” website shows the Armenians nearby prison in Mezierh by armed Turkish soldiers. Also only 25% Armenians deported to the deserts of Syria and Iraq. After the war between Armenian and Turks, only 380’000 Armenian remained in the Ottoman Empire. In June 1915, 25 percent of the Armenian population was deported t...
The Turkish government had a reason to get rid of the Armenians. In the Ottoman Empire, Armenians were second class citizens that lived in harmony with the Turks before the forces of nationalism came into the picture. Even though the Armenians had to face higher taxes and second class citizenship, they were treated and accepted pretty well. When nationalism took over, things began to change. The Ottoman Empire began to fall and the Armenians were considered to be the only major Christian minority since all the other minorities had gained their independence already. The Ottoman Empire became known as the "sick man of Europe". An empire that was once strong and an independent power, was now starting to collapse. The Turks had an envision of spreading new-Pan Turkic empire to Central Asia and the only thing that came in the way of doing so was the Armenians. Because of this, Turks wanted to get rid of the Armenians. Sultan Hamid II ruled the Ottoman Empire and because of him, the empire was saved and did not fall. Despite saving the Ottoman Empire, Hamid ordered th...
In short, the majority of Turkey’s allies did nothing about the ordeal in the end. Basically brushing the entire event off. Eventually, the already small and fragile Armenian republic was given no support from the allies as a whole, and collapsed upon itself. As for the Turkish, in the successful obliteration of the vast majority of the Armenian people, they destroyed many priceless masterpieces, libraries and churches that had belonged to the Armenians. In Turkey, it’s illegal to even mention the topic of the Armenian Genocide.
When people hear genocide they normally think of the Holocaust which was the persecution of Jews by the Nazi’s. This took place under Adolf Hitler’s rule but there have been other genocides throughout history. The Armenian Genocide is one of the many that have taken place. It took place in the Ottoman Empire between the years of 1914 to 1918 (“Armenian” Armenian). It started when the “Young Turks” took control of the government (Beecroft). The Holocaust and Armenian genocide are similar in the reasons that started them, but they are different in who was involved and how the two genocides were executed.