This year, on 24th April, Armenians around the world will mark the centenary of the Armenian genocide. It was on this date in 1915 when the Ottoman Turks began the mass killings of 1.5 million Armenians, an act which the Turkish government still denies to this date. The failure to prevent the atrocities or punish the perpetrators led to the modern cycle of genocide.
The Armenian genocide refers to the deliberate and systematic destruction of the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire during and just after World War I. The Armenian genocide was centrally planned and administered by the Turkish government and was carried out between 1915 and 1918. The Armenian people were subjected to deportation, expropriation, abduction, torture, massacre, and starvation. The great bulk of the Armenian population was forcibly removed from Armenia and Anatolia to Syria, where the vast majority was sent into the desert to die of thirst and hunger. Large numbers of Armenians were methodically massacred throughout the Ottoman Empire. Women and children were abducted and horribly abused. The entire wealth of the Armenian people was expropriated. After only a little more than a year of calm at the end of WWI, the atrocities were renewed between 1920 and 1923, and the remaining Armenians were subjected to further massacres and expulsions. In 1915, 33 years before UN Genocide Convention was adopted, the Armenian genocide was condemned by the international community as a crime against humanity.
The decision to carry out the genocide against the Armenian people was made by the political party in power in the Ottoman Empire. This was the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), popularly known as the Young Turks. Three figures from the CUP controlled the government; Mehmet Talaat, Ismail Enver, and Ahmed Jemal. This Young Turk triumvirate relied on other members of the CUP appointed to high government posts and assigned to military commands to carry out the Armenian genocide. The Young Turks also relied on a newly-created secret outfit which they manned with convicts and irregular troops, called the Special Organization (Teshkilati Mahsusa), whose primary function was the carrying out of the mass slaughter of the deported Armenians.
The German army who were allied with the Ottoman Turks saw how they evaded accountability for the atrocity, and drew a terrible lesson about the willingness of the world to turn a blind eye to the planned extermination of a whole race under the guise of war. One young German soldier named Adolf Hitler of the Great War later mentioned the Armenians as he orchestrated what is now known as the Holocaust.
Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?
I should like to see any power of the world destroy this race, this small tribe of unimportant people, whose wars have all been fought and lost, whose structures have crumbled, literature is unread, music is unheard, and prayers are no more answered. Go ahead, destroy Armenia . See if you can do it. Send them into the desert without bread or water. Burn their homes and churches. Then see if they will not laugh, sing and pray again. For when two of them meet anywhere in the world, see if they will not create a New Armenia.
To date, over 22 countries and National Assemblies have recognised the historical veracity of the Armenian genocide, including Germany, a collaborator of Turkey during WWI, the European Parliament, Canada, Russia, Italy, Sweden, The Vatican City, Uruguay and several others. The international support for the recognition of the Armenian genocide continues to grow, causing further embarrassment for the government in Turkey. Turkey and its western allies, USA, UK and Israel have so far refused to acknowledge the Armenian genocide.
This weekend, thousands of Armenians marched across London to commemorate the 100 year mark of the Armenian genocide. The march was led by religious and community leaders of the local Armenian community, and marchers carried flags of the countries that have recognised the first genocide of the 20th century.
By demanding a truthful and just resolution of the Armenian genocide we are saying “never again” to all genocides. Never again will we stand by while people are murdered for belonging to a select race, ethnic, or religious group as they were in Turkey, Nazi Europe, Cambodia, East Timor, Rwanda, or Darfur.
For more photos from the annual commemorative march in London, check out my page on Facebook.
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