How to sum up what the Armenian genocide was….a paragraph or two wouldn’t do it justice in the slightest. So I urge you all to read up further on the topic to get a more comprehensive knowledge on this deeply disturbing subject. But once you know what occurred in 1915 in Turkey the events following will just bring your faith in government to a whole new low. Now this all doesn’t make any sense at present to anyone who doesn’t know what I’m going on about so ill start from the beginning, but whilst briefly trying to explain the event I do realise that I am glossing over many aspects and that is why I urge you to read up on the event to get a fuller more truthful understanding on the suffering and pain the Armenian’s had to endure in what has been quoted by many to have been the first modern Holocaust.
In Turkey in 1915 there was an order sent out by the ruling Ottoman’s at the time to rid the country of all Armenian’s. The majority of the Armenian’s where Christian and the so called Muslim Ottomans believed that they had sided with the western allies to undermine their government during the first world war. Turkey, for those who don’t know, had sided with and allied itself with Germany. Now this wasn’t the first time this had occurred in Turkish history as in the late 1800s there had been other incidents of ethnic cleansing taking place against the Armenian’s. What followed from 1915 was a massive and systematic effort by the Turkish government to rid itself fully of all Armenian’s. This meant adopting the cruellest imaginable mass killing techniques. The figure estimates that around 1 and a half million people were killed during this time.
This event unlike The Jewish Holocaust was known to be occurring by the west from the start. There where countless documentation made by Americans, British, French and even German officers and people. Winston Churchill wrote about the event countless times and there was an official report released and compiled by Lord Bryce which documented the atrocities carried out by the Turkish government on the Armenian people. The point I’m trying to reach at is that the world knew about this atrocity and you will find countless documents, newspaper articles and so forth on the subject now and then.
The word genocide was even coined especially to describe this event and this was well before the Jewish Holocaust was to take place. So why does Turkey still actively deny that this genocide ever took place? and furthermore, why does some of the west accept this and pander to Turkey by not officially claiming outright that the events that took place in 1915 were a Genocide? Many presidents, from George W. Bush to Bill Clinton to even Obama have promised to recognize the events of 1915 as a genocide when they get into office but as soon as they have they have fallen well short of what they have promised, adjusting their language when speaking about the event to avoid any mention of a genocide that might send Turkey into a Tizzy. This is not only an affront carried on solely by the US administration but also affects the British government as well. This pandering to the whims of Turkey is despicable to say the least, yes the west have something to lose from enraging Turkey but what cost can you put on integrity and truthfulness? France when it did officially recognize the Armenian event of 1915 as a genocide did lose out on lucrative contracts from Turkey BUT can we really say France is that much worse off by simply recognizing the suffering the Armenian people went through.
The Armenian genocide should be given the same respect and recognition as the Jewish Holocaust because no price should be great enough to buy the truth and silence of those who should know better. Germany does not hide or cower in the face of its pasts but faces up to it and that’s what makes its abhorrent past simply that, its past. By Turkey disgraceful denying its past not only does it show heightened deceit but also brings more suffering to the Armenian people who have already suffered untold damages. How can those who deny the Armenian genocide or those who cower to call it just that be able to claim themselves as models of democracy, upholding liberty and justice.
What I have written barley scratches the surface of this ongoing disgraceful and despicable facade so once again I urge you to read up on this. If anything, by simply knowing what occurred you are bestowing your own kindness to the Armenian people by keeping the knowledge of this event alive. As the one thing we should avoid doing is letting the words of Adolf Hitler come true. Yes, Adolf Hitler also knew about the Armenian genocide and there have been links made by people to show how the Armenian genocide influenced his abhorrent campaign against the Jews.
Whether or not these links are enough to have made a difference to Hitler’s campaign, the fact still stands that he knew about the Armenian genocide, as in 1939, Hitler asked his generals – before setting off into Poland to murder the millions of Jews in eastern Europe – a simple question: “Who now remembers the Armenian’s?”
