Premium Essay

The Armenian Genocide

Submitted By
Words 242
Pages 1
After Armenia was absorbed into the Ottoman Empire, now known as Turkey, the Armenians were viewed as “infidels” because of their Christianity. They were also subjected to unequal and unjust treatment. For example Christians had to pay higher taxes than Muslims and they had very few political and legal rights. While resenting the Armenian Christians for their successes, the Turkish Muslims also started to speculate that the Armenians would be more loyal to Christian governments such as the Russians, due to the unstable borders shared with Turkey. This lead to a state-sanctioned pogrom by Sultan Abdul Hamid, ending in the murder of hundreds of thousands of Armenians. After he was overthrown by the “Young Turks”, they want to “Turkify” the empire.

Similar Documents

Free Essay

Armenian Genocide

...The Armenian Genocide Throughout history genocide has taken place on more than one occasion, causing mass destruction and casualties. The most commonly known genocide is the Nazi Holocaust, but the one less commonly known with an equivalent amount of brutality is the Armenian Genocide, also known as the Armenian Holocaust. The Armenian Genocide seems to have been ignored and this can be due to the fact that today, Turkey still rejects that the massacre was ”genocide”. Genocide is the murder of an entire people (Levack 800). The United Nations estimates that about 1 million Armenians were killed as a result (Bass). Since the early 1900’s Turkey has been trying to hide the massacres, but this organized genocide should not be ignored because it became a model for future genocides. The Armenians lived in Turkey peacefully for years. The Armenians official religion was Christianity. Islam was the major religion in Turkey. Prior to the Genocide, the Armenians and Turkish people lived together without conflict. In 1908, a movement led to a new group coming to power. The new socialist power, the Young Turks, was formed by young military officers who were concerned about the loss of power in the Ottoman Empire. They worked under the secret police to overthrow the Turkish Sultan, Abdul Hamid II. The Muslims thought the Christians were nonbelievers and treated them unequal. Christians did not have the same legal rights and had to pay higher taxes. The Armenians continued to live...

Words: 568 - Pages: 3

Free Essay

Armenian Genocide

...Bride in Armenian genocide Armenian genocide recognized by 22 Nations (including the Argentina), is an issue of high sensitivity that was always denied by Turkey. Francisco was the first Pope to verbally denounce that the Armenian people were “genocide". Exactly one hundred years ago, there began one of the most discussed event in the history of Turkey is the Armenian genocide. It is the killing of Armenian citizens during the First World War. The eventual happenings of those mass murders generated strong tensions with Turkey, by mentioning that the political heir of the Turkish Ottoman Empire responsible for the carnage (Smith 1-22).. But he refused to acknowledge the responsibility of academics, Governments and international organizations. The bodies of the women and children were basically the subject of protagonist discourses and the policies. The issue of belief in Armenian genocide and proof have brought the acceptance towards the continuing disputes that the crimes against the Armenian people were part of the many claims which were intended to target the Christian Armenians. During the Armenian genocide, Armenian women were owned and were forcibly kept as the wife and sex slave. This paper discusses the War bride in the Armenian genocide which had adverse effects afterwards. Body: The genocide definition corresponded to the nationalist government of the young Turks, who seemed to share the idea of equal citizenship with ethno-religious minorities (Greeks, Armenians and Jews)...

Words: 1288 - Pages: 6

Free Essay

The Armenian Genocide

...THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE “Kill every Armenian, women, children and men without concern for anything”~ Talaat Pasha, Ottoman Turkish leader. The Armenian Genocide, also known as the Armenian Holocaust was the Ottoman government’s systematic extermination of its minority Armenian subjects from their historic homeland in the territory constituting the present-day Republic of Turkey. It took place from April of 1915 to 1923 (during and after WWI), and was implemented in two phases: The wholesale killing of the able-bodied male population through massacre and forced labor, and the deportation of women, children, the elderly and infirm on death marches to the Syrian Desert. The total number of people killed as a result has been estimated at between 1 million to 1.5 million. But people may ask why? Armenia had come largely under Ottoman rule during the 15th and 16th centuries. The majority of Armenians were grouped together under the name Armenian Millet (community) and they were led by their spiritual head, the Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople. This community was made up of three religious denominations: The Armenian Apostolic, The Armenian Catholic and The Armenian Protestant, meanwhile the Turkish were Muslim. Basically the Armenian community were persecuted and killed by the Turkish because a religion matter. The Armenian Genocide it is acknowledged to have been one of the first modern genocides. It have been pointed as an organized manner in which the killings were carried...

Words: 1002 - Pages: 5

Free Essay

Armenian Genocide

...First, the Armenians in the army were disarmed and killed Second, the Armenian intellectual and political leaders were rounded up and killed on April 25, 1915 Finally, the remaining Armenians were rounded up from their homes, told they would be relocated, and then marched off to concentration camps in the desert where they would starve and thirst to death in the burning sun The Armenians lost 300 years of history in the Genocide Their churches, buildings, libraries, ect. were destroyed, and they were left with nothing but memories. The Armenians were mistreated in every way possible during the genocide. The Turks went to the extent of cutting off the hands of children and letting them bleed and yell themselves to death. They buried children in ditches in the desert They drove thousands of Armenians in death marches until they dropped dead or were shot They planned to eliminated the entire Armenian Christian population living in Turkey, they killed about half My name is Vartan Hartunian and I am the pastor of the First Armenian Church in Belmont, Massachusetts. I am one of a diminishing number of survivors of the Armenian genocide. I was born on February 11, 1915 and the genocide broke out on April 24, 1915. In 1909 there was a massacre in Adana, and 30,000 Armenians were slaughtered. When World War I broke out, this gave the Young Turks the opportunity to fulfill a Turkish desire that had continued for centuries: to rid Turkey of all Armenians. Even before...

Words: 671 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Armenian Genocide Research Paper

...A Genocide, by definition, means “the deliberate killing of a large group of people, especially those of a particular ethnic group or nation.” The Armenian genocide is one of the worst Genocide events in history killing an estimated 1-1.5 million armenian people. The group responsible for killing so many was the Turks who were in power of the Ottoman Empire. There was a committee called CUP (committee of union and progress) also known as “young Turks.” There were three top people that controlled the government along with others in the organization that carried out the mass killings. The victims involved in these mass murders were Armenian Christians, Christian Assyrians, Syrians, Chaldans, and Greeks. There was corruption and unrest amongst the Empire. The rulers did not like ethnic and religious diversity. This diversity led to independence and decomposition of the empire, leading to less control of the people. A way to get this power back was to force conversion. When this didn’t happen quickly enough or get fast results, murder or persecution was their way of handling it....

Words: 515 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

The Armenian Genocide

...The Armenian Genocide of 1915 was the terribly savage maltreatment of the Armenian people by the Ottoman empire and the latter CUP. The armenian people were unjustly exploited at the time when the world was upheaved in chaos due to world war one. The Ottoman empire which was once diverse with it’s multi ethnic and religious population was replaced by a nation state ideology fronted by the desire to obtain a monoethnic and mono-religious society. The new government in power known as the Committee of union and progress (CUP) or the Young Turk party delved into the most heinous means of obtaining their goal for a singular society by targeting and eliminating minorities who diverged from their ideology, in particular their vulnerable armenian...

Words: 1241 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Armenian Genocide

...The Atrocities committed against the Armenian people of the Ottoman Empire during W.W.I. is called the Armenian Genocide. A genocide is an organized killing of a group of people to put an end to their existence. The Armenian Genocide was planned and administrated by the Turkish government against the entire Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire. The genocide was between the years 1915 and 1923 during W.W.I. The Armenians were deported, expropriated, abducted, tortured, killed and starved. A huge part of the Armenian population was forced to move from Armenia and Anatolia to Syria, where the majority was sent into the desert and to die of thirst and hunger. Large numbers of Armenians were massacred throughout the Ottoman Empire. W.W.I. gave the Young Turk government an excuse to carry out their plans of a genocide. The Armenian Genocide was masterminded by the Central Committee of the Young Turk Party which was dominated by Mehmed Talât , Ismail Enver , and Ahmed Djemal. They were a racist group whose ideology was articulated by Zia Gökalp, Dr. Mehmed Nazim, and Dr. Behaeddin Shakir. Armenians all over the world commemorate this great tragedy on April 24, because it was on that day in 1915 when 300 Armenian leaders, writers, thinkers and professionals in Constantinople were rounded up, deported and killed. Also on that day in Constantinople, 5,000 of the poorest Armenians were butchered in the streets and in their homes. Across the Ottoman Empire the same events happened...

Words: 892 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

The Armenian Genocide

...Between the years of 1915 and 1917, a fatal plan of ethnic cleansing was implemented against the minority Christian Armenian populations in the Ottoman Empire. The Armenian Genocide took the lives of upwards of a million people, many of which left behind numerous children and loved ones. Why is it that intellectuals and individuals so often refer to the Armenian Genocide as the forgotten genocide? The reason that this phrase has been attributed to the Armenian Genocide is because of the conditions that have existed in Turkey in the one hundred years following the atrocities. The experiences and memories belonging to the victims of the Armenian Genocide have been severely repressed, as a result of legal and social sanctions implemented by the...

Words: 1268 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

Armenian Genocide

...Armenian Genocides Prashanth P. Samuel Professor Hicks History 116 The Ottoman Empire was a very powerful and influential force in the world during the early 19th century. As the empire was predominantly of Turkish decent, other minority groups started growing within the empire. Eventually it came to a period where the Ottoman Empire felt these minority groups such as the Armenians, Greeks, as well as the Assyrians were becoming to strong and felt they were threating the empire therefore they were persecuted and the mass killings of the Armenian people being. The purpose of this paper is to dive into the times of the Armenian genocides before during and after the April 24th 1915 genocide attacks on the Armenian people. The various sources and references used in this paper will explain the various situations the Armenian people faced and how this has correlated to other world events at the time and how this has affected Armenian people for generations to come. The first part which we will look at is determining if the mass killings of the Armenian people is considered genocide or not as the people of Turkey time and time again failed to recognize that it was genocide. The genocide convention in 1948 defined the word “genocide” as an incident which involves a significant number of dead, as similar to the number of dead during the 1915-1916 era. “On 12 March 2010, the Swedish Riksdag recognized the 1915 Genocide in Ottoman Turkey” (Avedian). As the Swedish have stated that...

Words: 2605 - Pages: 11

Premium Essay

Armenian Genocide

...For instance, during the war, the Ottoman Empire had many Armenian people be sent to their deaths, “In 1915, leaders of the Turkish government set in motion a plan to expel and massacre Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire. Though reports vary, most sources agree that there were about 2 million Armenians in the Ottoman Empire at the time of the massacre. The Ottoman rulers, like most of their subjects, were Muslim. They permitted religious minorities like the Armenians to maintain some autonomy, but they also subjected Armenians, who they viewed as “infidels,” to unequal and unjust treatment” The Armenians suffered the wrath of the war since all were battling for a larger more perfect nation. If a specific group of people, like the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, did not suit the plan, then they were simply the ones to be forced out or to be killed. Likewise, every other powerful nation was caught up in the war; thus, the Armenians had no salvation near. Also, within the Ottoman Empire, the Turks submitted the Armenian race to cruel actions before they would wind up at their deaths, “The victims of the Armenian genocide include people killed in local massacres that began in spring 1915; others who died during deportations, under conditions of starvation, dehydration, exposure, and disease; and Armenians who died in or en route to the desert regions of the southern Empire.” Armenian people died in may ways, all being inhuman forms to perish. Families would see...

Words: 1147 - Pages: 5

Free Essay

Armenian Diaspora

...ARMENIAN DIASPORA The Armenian Diaspora is the Armenian communities who live in the outside of Republic of Armenia and de-facto independent Nagorno-Karabach Republic. Those people who live in abroad of their origin land mostly immigrated from Eastern part of Turkey after Ottoman Parliament passed the temporary ‘Tehcir Law’. This law authorized Ottoman Empire to the deportation of Armenian population located in the east part of Anatolia. The resettlement campaign resulted in the deaths of nearly 600.000- 1.500.000 civilians. According to Ottoman archives, the deportation started at March 2, 1915. On September 13, 1915; Ottoman Parliament also passed the law to capture all lands, homes, livestocks owned by Armenians to local authorities. While some historians claim that this was the first genocide of the 20th century, others claim that Ottoman Empire deported the Armenians for their safety, when the empire was so close to collapse. There consequent situtations led many Armenian people to immigrate to the different parts of world. The biggest Armenian population except Republic of Armenia is located in Russia as around 2,2 million. After Russia, United States is the second most populated Armenian diaspora, estimated around 1,4 million. Turkey, France and Georgia are also other countries that host many Armenian people. Moreover, Armenians spread whole over the world but in the case of diasporas; Russia, USA, France and Turkey’s Armenian diasporas are well known and very active...

Words: 978 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

The Perils Of Indifference Analysis

...parachute into Europe. Szenes spent 3 months in Yugoslavia, on June 7,1944 she crossed the Hungarian border and was caught almost immediately, then tortured cruelly for several months. She refused to give up any information and was executed by a firing squad on November 7,1944 at only 23 years old. Hannah Szenes was just one of many who worked against the Nazis in order to save helpless Jewish prisoners from death in the crematorium. Nearly 18 years before the Holocaust during and after World War 1, Armenians were rounded up, deported, and executed on government orders. Indifference caused awful mass killings, forced deportation marches, and diseases in concentration camps approximately killed more than 1 million ethnic Armenians, Assyrians and Greeks between 1915 and 1923. Ever since the Armenian genocide, the Turkish government denies that a genocide took place. In March of 2010, a United States Congressional panel finally voted to recognize the genocide. What happened to the Armenians was similar to the Holocaust because there was “indifference” which led to “punishment” of innocent “victims.” Ultimately, Elie Wiesel believes that indifference is a “punishment” and therefore a “sin.” The world can learn the real meaning of indifference from Wiesel’s speech “The Perils of Indifference”, also how indifference affects the world and what awful atrocities it's caused. It is vital that we ask ourselves about the lessons we learn from the consequences of action and inaction during the...

Words: 716 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

The Holocaust: The Armenian Genocide

...forgotten by the world, and that is the Armenian Genocide. The Armenian Genocide took place in the Ottoman Empire from 1915-1923. Millions were killed by a campaign of deportation and mass killings by the Young Turk government. The controversy is that...

Words: 1804 - Pages: 8

Free Essay

Stylistics

...H. Res. 106: Affirmation of the United States Record on the Armenian Genocide Resolution 110th CONGRESS 1st Session Calling upon the President to ensure that the foreign policy of the United States reflects appropriate understanding and sensitivity concerning issues related to human rights, ethnic cleansing, and genocide documented in the United States record relating to the Armenian Genocide, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES January 30, 2007 Mr. SCHIFF (for himself, Mr. RADANOVICH, Mr. PALLONE, Mr. KNOLLENBERG, Mr. SHERMAN, and Mr. MCCOTTER) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs RESOLUTION Calling upon the President to ensure that the foreign policy of the United States reflects appropriate understanding and sensitivity concerning issues related to human rights, ethnic cleansing, and genocide documented in the United States record relating to the Armenian Genocide, and for other purposes. Resolved, SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. This resolution may be cited as the `Affirmation of the United States Record on the Armenian Genocide Resolution'. SEC. 2. FINDINGS. The House of Representatives finds the following: (1) The Armenian Genocide was conceived and carried out by the Ottoman Empire from 1915 to 1923, resulting in the deportation of nearly 2,000,000 Armenians, of whom 1,500,000 men, women, and children were killed, 500,000 survivors were expelled from their homes,...

Words: 1901 - Pages: 8

Premium Essay

Armenian Genocide In The Promise

...The Promise is based on a historical event that underlies the horrific truth of the Armenian genocide. The movie takes place in a small Armenian village where Mikael an apothecary wants to get into medical school. Mikael travels to Constantinople to attend the medical school academy. He meets Emre son of a high level Turkish official and tries to befriend him to escape death and save himself. After Erme tried helping Mikael find his family he got in deep trouble for it and was sent to prove himself a Turkish follower. Mikael tries to escape this mess, but Erme can’t help him no longer. During his travel, he falls in love with a girl that wasn’t Armenian. He had to think about who he loved more. This girl which he was forced to marry or the...

Words: 380 - Pages: 2