Armenian Genocide.
“To the Governor of Aleppo. March 9, 1915. All rights of Armenians to live and work on Turkish soil have been completely cancelled, with regard to this the government takes all responsibility on itself, and has commanded that even babies in the cradle not to be spared… Tell the officials that are to be appointed for that they must work to put into execution our real intent, without being afraid of responsibility. Please, send cipher reports of the results of your activities every week.” Talaat, Minister of the Interior (Memoirs of Naim Bey, London, 1920)
Armenian Genocide is one of the most tragic events in the history of all mankind. It took place in the period between the end of the 19-th and the start of the 20-th centuries, and the result was shocking: about 1.8 million of people cowardly murdered and hundreds of thousands deported from their native places. Actually the first genocide of the 20-th century was spread all around Turkey from Istanbul to Eastern Armenia aiming to desolate all the territory from the Armenians, who lived there for several thousands of years yet before the ancestors of Turks came here and formed the Turkish nation. The aim was to destroy anything related to the Armenian people, culture, language and traditions. Directed by ideas of panturkism and panislamism Turks realized a most awful policy with nothing of human reflection remained. After the World War I ended, all those tragic events were missed within all the other crimes of the War and numerous facts were not given valuable attention by the International society and the newly-formed League of Nations.
The notion of “genocide” was invented only after World War II by Raphael Lemken, a Polish lawyer of Jewish decent. His invention was based mainly on two tragedies of the XX century: the Genocide of the Jews in Fascist Germany and Genocide of the Armenians in Ottoman Empire. Soon the term was accepted by scientists, statesmen, politicians and all international organizations. As a result on December 9, 1948 The General Assembly of United Nations adopted the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
Nowadays “genocide” is defined as a policy, aimed to exterminate specific groups of people for racial, national and religious motives either directly, by way of killing, or through inflicting serious bodily and mental harm to members of the mentioned groups. The concept also involves deliberate infliction on the group conditions of life calculated to exterminate the groups in whole or in part; imposing measures which prevent births within the environment, i.e. in that particular group of people, forcible transfer of children from one group to another, etc.
The term “Armenocide” was formed in 60s of 20th century by Moussa Prince, a Lebanese Arab historian, who wrote: “Armenocide is the most genocidal genocide” (“Un genocide impuni. L’Armenocide” (An Unpunished Genocide: Armenocide)
Actually the Armenian Genocide was an effort to settle the Armenian Question, which took Turks too many years to solve. The Armenian question was raised first yet in 17th century and later from time to time in different international congresses: Western Armenia was called territory populated by Armenians, points of various international treaties concerning improving of live conditions for Armenians used to remain on paper, the words “Armenia”, “Armenians”, “Armenian religion, culture, language”, etc. were prohibited. The goal, that Turkish government had, was to completely isolate Western Armenia from its native population - the Armenian people. Yet in the close of 19-th century whole villages were completely destroyed, everybody killed. There are numerous facts proving that tragic events, such as the correspondence of different ambassadors in Armenia, statesmen, political leaders of Turkey within the reigning period of sultan Abdul Hamid II and after him during Young Turks government.
Not only Armenians got victims of those awful slaughters, but also Arabs, Bulgarians, Serbs, Greeks, and other Slavs. Massacres all around the territory of Turkey got some sort of usual thing, and no international participation assisted solving of that way of things.
On October 29, 1914 Turkey joined World War I, and now the internal and external conditions encouraged the Young Turkish triumvirate - Talaat, Enver and Cemal, to start the new phase of Armenian genocide. In 1914, with signature of the minister of interior Talaat, secret decrees were sent to the local governors for any preparation measures to be taken for extermination of the Armenian population from Western Armenia.
In the end of 1914 during a secret meeting the ideologist of “The Union and Progress Party” Dr. Nazim declared:
“The Armenian People should be destroyed to the roots, in order not a single Armenian be left in our country, in order that every name be forgotten. Now the war is under way. There will be no other favorable occasion like this. The interference of the Great Power and vociferous protests of the world mass media will remain unnoticed, and even if they get to know, they will face an accomplished fact, thereby the problem will be done with. This time our actions must be aimed to total extermination of the Armenians; it is necessary to destroy all of them, to the last man… I want Turks and only Turks to live on this soil and to be in full possession of it. To hell with the all the non-Turkish element, no matter what their nationality or religion is! Mevlan Zade Rifat, Turkie inkilabinin ic uyzu, Halep, 1929, s.89
And so they did. The population of the whole Western Armenia got victims of that slaughter, which lasted for about half a century, yet since tyranny of Abdul Hamid II, and during dictate of Young Turks, whose activity directed against the Armenian population of Turkey brought the genocide to a completely new stage, raised it to its peak. By 1918 almost not a single Armenian remained in Turkey. Thousands of people were massacred, burnt alive, cut in most awful ways.
After the World War I ended, Turkey capitulated, sanctions were taken against it. But the Young Turks were overthrown, and the new state took no responsibility for what had been already done.
Nowadays Armenia has only 1/10 of the territory of historical Armenia. And till now after all these years past, the Armenian genocide, the Armenocide is not recognized by Turkey yet.
By Sedrak Mkrtchyan aka 517design
