Armenian Genocide

Genocide is typically defined as the systematic extermination of a particular group of people who share some sort of commonality whether it is race, nationality, political alignment, or perhaps culture. Simply put, genocide is the mass killing of a group of people. For many, the mere concept of genocide is impossible to rationalize in their own minds, let alone discuss amongst others with. As shocking as it is, all people must come to terms with the fact that genocide, as savage as it may be, is something that does in fact happen, and it’s horrors that come along with it were not taken out of a fiction book. Genocides are real and continue to still happen today; even the genocides that are long past will never be forgotten, as they continue to carry with them the aftermath they left behind that will never fade with time. Genocides have plagued history for hundreds if not thousands of years and will dejectedly plague the future until there is no one left to kill, and sadly the idea of genocide will be the last thought remembered. No genocide is worse than the next; they all destroy peace and harvest the good that does exist. The Armenian Genocide was a multitude of horrors triggered by the same quintessential human intolerance that catapult all such evil, and is still the cause of many heated debates in the countries of (but not limited to) Armenia and Turkey.

The Republic of Armenia, as it is officially known by, is a landlocked country that sees Turkey to the west, Georgia to the north, and Azerbaijan to the south and east. Armenia’s religious roots date back to Christianity, with churches being found as early as the fourth century. Armenia is unique because during its early existence it was under either Turkic or Persian rule, with aspects of both cultures blending together in a resulting Armenia. Armenia has a unique alphabet despite its birth from the Indo-European languages. Armenia houses about three million people in roughly twelve-thousand square miles of land, with Yerevan as the modern day capital (BBC Armenia).

The Ottoman Empire, as it was known as from its founding in the late thirteenth century until its demise in the early twentieth century, was centered in present-day Turkey. The Ottomans have come to be known as one of the most powerful civilizations of the modern period, and have come to be known as the main influence for many Middle-Eastern and European countries to follow. By the beginning of the seventeenth century, the Ottomans were the wealthiest and most powerful state in the world, some of this great power at the expense of their neighbor Armenia (Hooker).

The Ottomans however were beginning to decline quickly, and they began to fear the Armenians living within the Ottoman Empire were going to align with Russia and defeat the Ottomans. The first glimpse of the travesties that were going to unfold to Armenians came under the hands of Abdul Hamid II, the thirty-fourth sultan of the Ottomans. The heaviest discriminations towards Armenians were seen when Hamid II was in power, and in the early eighteen-nineties the Armenians began to protest to end their unfair discriminations, obtain the right to vote and to push for the establishment of a constitutional government (Hooker). “In the following months, systematic pogroms swept over every district of Turkish Armenia. The slaughter of between 100,000 and 200,000 Armenians, forced conversion of scores of villages, the looting and burning of hundreds of settlements, and the coerced flight into exile of thousands of Armenians became Abdul-Hamid's actual response to European meddling” (Hovannisian, 17). The cries of the Armenians were not for reform anymore, but for the loss of so many innocents. The killings took place between eighteen ninety-five and eighteen ninety-seven. This is considered to be by some scholars the first stage of the Armenian Genocide; the majority of scholars do not credit Hamid II’s massacres to be a part of the impending genocide (Hooker).

However crippled the Armenian people may have been during those times, they saw a glimmer of hope. In 1908, a coup d’etat was staged by officers in the Turkish Third Army; the Turks succeeded in throwing Hamid II out of power and returning their nation back to a constitutional monarchy. This success was short-lived as a counter-coup is a mere year away, and is now known to be called as the Adana Massacre. While the massacre mainly aimed at the new Young Turk government their efforts were to be thrown-off by the protesting Armenians, who were riding on a wave of nationalism. Soon pogroms began to exterminate the Armenians, as opposed to simply trying to quell their violence. It is estimated that roughly thirty-thousand Armenians were killed in the massacre; this was still not even the half of what Armenians throughout were going to be faced with (Human Rights Council).

A few years later in the early nineteen-tens a trio from the Young Turk party spearheaded yet another coup. They gained full control of the government in nineteen thirteen; these three men were Ehmed Talaat, Ismail Enver and Ahmed Djemal. They all held very radical views on the steps that they wanted their country of Turkey to go. All three dictators in their own sense, they shared the commonality of seeing a Turkey revitalized by nationalism no matter what the price happened to be, and that price was no further East than the Armenians (Human Rights Council).

The number of Armenians living in Turkey at the same time was approximately two million. Because the Armenians shared Christian views, they were viewed as “infidels” by the Turks, due to their rejection of the Islamic faith. This was not their only difference, as there were many between them. Another such difference is the fact that most Armenians living in Turkey were better educated and most of whom professionals in their own right. On the other side of things, the Turks were mainly made up of peasants who were for the most part illiterate. Lastly, the Turks at the time did not have the nationalistic feelings as the Armenians did. The Young Turks felt they needed to further exploit the fundamental differences that the two groups held for one another. They felt it was necessary to alienate the two groups even further, and increase the tension (The History Place).

Soon after in nineteen-fourteen World War I broke out, and the Turks sided with the Central Powers. The Turks did not fail to realize the position they were in, knowing full well they had a great opportunity at finally taking serious action against the Armenians. The Turks quickly began to take advantage of their new position and began to disarm the Armenians, seizing all weapons. Those who did not turn in a weapon were subject to severe penalties; some even