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Keep the memory of genocide alive
Troy Record, NY
April 23 2006
On April 24, 1915, Turkey - then ruled as the Ottoman Empire -
arrested more than 200 young Armenians in Constantinople without any
legal grounds to do so. That single act triggered one of the greatest
atrocities of all time - the Armenian genocide.
The country's rulers had decided that the large number of Armenians
in Turkey were an obstacle to achieving a homogenous Turkish Empire,
so with swift brutality, they slaughtered men, women and children for
no reason but political expediency and drove survivors out of their
homes and across borders far from their roots.
By the time the relentless genocide was over, in 1923, more than 1.5
million people were killed because of their nationality. Less than
two decades later, the Third Reich slaughtered more than 6,000,000
Jews, along with thousands of gypsies and homosexuals, to preserve
the "purity of Aryan blood."
The scope of that genocide pushed aside the world's memory of the
equally barbaric brutality of the Armenian genocide, and much to the
relief of the Turkish government, it got lost in history.
Lost, that is, until survivors, fellow Armenians and people with a
taste for justice founded grassroots organizations to observe this
somber anniversary annually.
Locally, there will be several programs to educate people about the
horrific events, culminating in Troy's Monument Square from 6:30-8
p.m. Monday, where there will be a memorial service and the reading
of proclamations.
The groups that sponsor these events nationally have one simple goal:
closure. All these volunteer organizations want is an acknowledgment
that a crime against humanity occurred.
But Turkey refuses to acknowledge the Armenian massacre.
Several years ago, the United Nations asked the Turks to publicly
accept this brutal past, but Turkey never has.
In Congress, a resolution was passed by a wide margin that requested
the Turkish government to accept what happened and both apologize and
swear such an atrocity would never occur again. Turkey ignored the
resolution.
So it is only groups such as the Capital District Armenian Genocide
Committee that keep the memory of the dead alive, and bravo to them.
Remember, a crime like this is not just a crime against Armenians, it
is a crime against all humanity.
Troy Record, NY
April 23 2006
On April 24, 1915, Turkey - then ruled as the Ottoman Empire -
arrested more than 200 young Armenians in Constantinople without any
legal grounds to do so. That single act triggered one of the greatest
atrocities of all time - the Armenian genocide.
The country's rulers had decided that the large number of Armenians
in Turkey were an obstacle to achieving a homogenous Turkish Empire,
so with swift brutality, they slaughtered men, women and children for
no reason but political expediency and drove survivors out of their
homes and across borders far from their roots.
By the time the relentless genocide was over, in 1923, more than 1.5
million people were killed because of their nationality. Less than
two decades later, the Third Reich slaughtered more than 6,000,000
Jews, along with thousands of gypsies and homosexuals, to preserve
the "purity of Aryan blood."
The scope of that genocide pushed aside the world's memory of the
equally barbaric brutality of the Armenian genocide, and much to the
relief of the Turkish government, it got lost in history.
Lost, that is, until survivors, fellow Armenians and people with a
taste for justice founded grassroots organizations to observe this
somber anniversary annually.
Locally, there will be several programs to educate people about the
horrific events, culminating in Troy's Monument Square from 6:30-8
p.m. Monday, where there will be a memorial service and the reading
of proclamations.
The groups that sponsor these events nationally have one simple goal:
closure. All these volunteer organizations want is an acknowledgment
that a crime against humanity occurred.
But Turkey refuses to acknowledge the Armenian massacre.
Several years ago, the United Nations asked the Turks to publicly
accept this brutal past, but Turkey never has.
In Congress, a resolution was passed by a wide margin that requested
the Turkish government to accept what happened and both apologize and
swear such an atrocity would never occur again. Turkey ignored the
resolution.
So it is only groups such as the Capital District Armenian Genocide
Committee that keep the memory of the dead alive, and bravo to them.
Remember, a crime like this is not just a crime against Armenians, it
is a crime against all humanity.