The Armenian Genocide of WWI: 1915-1916

Who was involved? ‘Young Turk’ leadership, and Armenian people. (Note: Armenians are Christians in a Muslim area)

When did it happen? 1915-1916

In the Ottoman Empire, specifically Turkey, Syria and Iraq Where did it happen? In the Ottoman Empire, specifically Turkey, Syria and Iraq

What were the details? First genocide in the 20th Century 600,000-1.5 mil 20 years of persecution by Ottomans Turks allied with Germany in WW I hopeful this would lead to their own Turkish homeland. Armenians pleaded for neutrality Fearing Armenia would help Russians, Turks assigned women, children and elderly to relocation camps, for ‘protection’

What were the effects? Most died, but kids were converted to Islam, some escaped and were helped by sympathetic Turks Effects on world history HUGE! Before WW I there were understood codes of warfare to protect civilians from harm, BUT no codes or laws to protects them from their own government. By early 1915 reports of genocide leaked out, world leaders promised help, condemning the massacre as a ‘crime against humanity’ Armenians were not given a protectorate NOR even mentioned in treaties. BUT… Int’l laws against genocide. Finally drafted 1948

How was it allowed to take place? Allies failed to intervene in the O.E. during and after the genocide

Why should we care? Failure of WW I Allies to punish Turkish perpetrators paved the way for future genocides of 20th Century Hitler stated ‘Who, after all, remembers the annihilation of the Armenians?’ Post Ottoman Turkish gov’t never punished perpetrators Called the ‘forgotten genocide’ of 1915-1916

From The Federalist: http://thefederalist Why? This is the central question which always boils down to the essence of power politics. And human sin. We have the standard answers, but they don’t tell the whole story: Yes, the Ottoman government felt politically threatened and was on the verge of collapse. The Armenians made convenient scapegoats. Sure, there were nationalists among them, especially in the Eastern provinces bordering the Russian Empire whose religion was Christianity. No true civilization can afford to falsify the historical record or corrupt the language. But, in the end, the Ottoman government really believed its problems could be solved only by brute force and the killing of innocents. Perhaps even more importantly, it happened because they expected to get away with it.

This is key. If we corrupt the language so that we do not acknowledge genocide when it happens—as President Obama just did—then we feed into the expectations of all potential perpetrators that they can easily get away with murder. So we are liable to see genocide and other forms of mass slaughter repeated. No true civilization can afford to falsify the historical record or corrupt the language. Inscribed on one of the walls of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is a stark lesson in this. It is a statement by Adolph Hitler, who rationalized mass slaughter and expected people simply to avert their eyes and forget: “Who, after all, today speaks of the annihilation of the Armenians?”