The Genide: The History Of The Armenian Genocide

Although the term “genocide” was not created until 1944, instances of genocide have been performed since the beginning of humanity. “In ancient times, it was common practice for victors in war to slaughter the men of a population they conquered,” says the staff from History.com.

During the 15th century, Armenia had been taken over by the Ottoman Empire. The leaders of the Ottoman Empire were Muslim and the Armenian population were Christian. Due to this fact, the Turks viewed the Armenians as “infidels” (Adalian). They treated them unequally by creating laws that made life harder for them. On April 24, 1915, the Turkish government planned systematic decimation thus beginning the Armenian genocide (HISTORY). On that day alone, it is estimated that about 700 Armenians were arrested and massacred (Adalian). Until 1923 when the Ottoman Empire was replaced with the Republic of Turkey, it is said that an estimated 1.5 million Armenians were killed by brutal massacres, death walks, and concentration camps while many more were inhumanly deported (HISTORY). An Armenian population that once started at an estimate of about 2 million was now cut down to 388,000 (HISTORY). Although this massive massacre falls under genocide in many peoples’ eyes the Turkish government denies to classify their act as genocide. Even till this day, the Turkish government has made it illegal to discuss the events of that period of history.

According to Dr. Gregory Stanton, the president of Genocide Watch, Genocide happens in 10 stages that are impossible to stop. His paper was presented at the United States State Department after the Rwandan genocide and contains information related to the genocide.

The first stage of genocide is classification (Stanton). During ...

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... cases, graves are dug up, bodies are burned, or evidence is destroyed (Stanton). The proper response to denial is punishment of the perpetrators; they should be caught and tried in a tribunal. The threat of tribunals may not scare the perpetrators into stopping their genocidal acts, but they will hold them accountable for the crimes they have committed (Stanton).

Genocide is downright one of the most horrible and brutal acts of humanity. Although it is part of human nature, no one is exactly sure why people do it. Last century was coined “the age of genocide” by some scholars. The horrors of those genocides are reminders of the preventative measures that the United Nations needs to incorporate. Genocide is not the inexorable outcome of heinous and absurd leaders. Learning from past genocides about predicting future ones can help in averting genocide in the future.