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The Express Tribune, Pakistan
Jan 1 2011
Armenian genocide: Millions killed and forgotten
by Ahmed Aziz
Turkey has always denied the death of 1.5 million Armenian Christians
as genocide, blaming it on civil war at the time.
On December 24, 2010, the United States once again avoided diplomatic
difficulties with a Nato ally, Turkey. The House of Representatives
ended its term by not putting forward a resolution recognising the
genocide of the Armenians by the Ottoman Empire during World War I.
This resolution is unlikely to be passed by the Congress in the next
term because the next house speaker, John Boehner, does not support
it.
According to the Independent, supporters of the resolution had high
hopes for it to be passed before the term ended because the outgoing
speaker, Nancy Pelosi, had previously supported the resolution.
Turkey is an important ally of the US in the Middle East playing a
supporting role in the Iraq War and has helped the US in the past on
other war fronts. Turkish governments have always denied the death of
1.5 million Armenian Christians as genocide, blaming it on general
anarchy and civil was at that time. However, historians term it as the
first holocaust of the 20th century, of which documentary and
photographic proof also exists.
Genocide roots in the Ottoman Empire
Within the Ottoman Empire, the Armenians were generally concentrated
in the eastern provinces. According to the Dhimmi system in the
Ottoman Empire the non-Muslims were subjected to over-taxation and
limited legal freedoms. Generally referred to as infidels or
unbelievers, they were not considered equal to Muslims. Testimony of a
non-Muslim against a Muslim was not admissible in court and their
houses could not be higher than their Muslim neighbor's.
Initial massacres took place under the rule of Sultan Abdul Hamid II
in the late 19th century. These were called the Hamidiyan massacres in
which, according to different historians, 80,000 to 300,000 Armenians
were killed.
In 1908, the monarchy had collapsed after the Young Turk Revolution
and by 1913 the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), Ittihad ve
Terakki Jemiyeti, emerged at the head of the government in a coup. The
CUP had an extreme Turkish nationalistic ideology and was mainly
controlled by Enver Pasha, Minister of War, Talat Pasha, Minister of
the Interior and Grand Vizier in 1917, and Jemal Pasha, Minister of
the Marine.
The resettlement program
I will not go deep into political background of the genocide which
occurred during World War I but one of the basic reasons behind it was
Ottoman insecurity that the Armenian Christian subjects will support
the Russians pushing on in the eastern front of the war. Some
historians also credit it to the policies of the government to create
a unified and pure `Turkish state.'
In the spring and summer of 1915 Armenians all around the empire were
ordered to deport under a fictitious `resettlement program.' Convoys
consisting of hundreds of thousands of Armenians from different parts
of the empire started towards the Syrian Desert. These convoys were
basically death marches because most of the people were subjected to
torture, rape and slaughter during their painful journey towards the
desert. The government did not make any plans for the provision of
food and water and thousands died of starvation and disease. Some
evidence of a primitive form of gas chambers also exists, where women
and children were put into a cave and the entrance of the cave was set
on fire, suffocating the people inside the cave.
The forgotten holocaust
A new `Special Organisation' called the Teshkilti Mahsusa, was formed
as a tool for extermination. Approximated two million Armenians lived
in the Ottoman lands in 1915 but by 1918 an estimated 1 million had
perished and by 1923 a negligible number of Armenians were left in
main Anatolian Turkey.
Photographic and documentary evidence exist of the extermination of
the Armenian race from the Ottoman lands.
This Genocide the forgotten holocaust because it was over-shadowed by
the killing of the six million Jews during the World War II by Nazi
Germany and generally people really don't know about it. It is ironic
because while persuading his associates that a Jewish holocaust would
be tolerated by the west, Adolf Hitler said the following and he was
right:
`Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?
'Events of such magnitude cannot be explained in one article so for
readers who are further interested in knowing about what took place in
the Ottoman Empire during that time, should have a look at the
following:
1.Great War for Civilization: The conquest of the Middle East - By
Robert Fisk (Chapter 10)
2.Subjects of the Sultan: Culture and Daily Life in the Ottoman Empire
- by Suraiya Faroqhi
3.The Knock at the Door: A Journey through the Darkness of the
Armenian Genocide - by Margaret Ajemian Ahnert
4.A Shameful Act: The Armenian Genocide and the Question of Turkish
Responsibility - by Taner Akçam
5.Survivors: An Oral History Of The Armenian Genocide - by Donald E.
Miller and Lorna Touryan Miller
.
http://blogs.tribune.com.pk/story/3713/armenian-genocide-millions-killed-and-forgotten-done/
From: A. Papazian
Jan 1 2011
Armenian genocide: Millions killed and forgotten
by Ahmed Aziz
Turkey has always denied the death of 1.5 million Armenian Christians
as genocide, blaming it on civil war at the time.
On December 24, 2010, the United States once again avoided diplomatic
difficulties with a Nato ally, Turkey. The House of Representatives
ended its term by not putting forward a resolution recognising the
genocide of the Armenians by the Ottoman Empire during World War I.
This resolution is unlikely to be passed by the Congress in the next
term because the next house speaker, John Boehner, does not support
it.
According to the Independent, supporters of the resolution had high
hopes for it to be passed before the term ended because the outgoing
speaker, Nancy Pelosi, had previously supported the resolution.
Turkey is an important ally of the US in the Middle East playing a
supporting role in the Iraq War and has helped the US in the past on
other war fronts. Turkish governments have always denied the death of
1.5 million Armenian Christians as genocide, blaming it on general
anarchy and civil was at that time. However, historians term it as the
first holocaust of the 20th century, of which documentary and
photographic proof also exists.
Genocide roots in the Ottoman Empire
Within the Ottoman Empire, the Armenians were generally concentrated
in the eastern provinces. According to the Dhimmi system in the
Ottoman Empire the non-Muslims were subjected to over-taxation and
limited legal freedoms. Generally referred to as infidels or
unbelievers, they were not considered equal to Muslims. Testimony of a
non-Muslim against a Muslim was not admissible in court and their
houses could not be higher than their Muslim neighbor's.
Initial massacres took place under the rule of Sultan Abdul Hamid II
in the late 19th century. These were called the Hamidiyan massacres in
which, according to different historians, 80,000 to 300,000 Armenians
were killed.
In 1908, the monarchy had collapsed after the Young Turk Revolution
and by 1913 the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), Ittihad ve
Terakki Jemiyeti, emerged at the head of the government in a coup. The
CUP had an extreme Turkish nationalistic ideology and was mainly
controlled by Enver Pasha, Minister of War, Talat Pasha, Minister of
the Interior and Grand Vizier in 1917, and Jemal Pasha, Minister of
the Marine.
The resettlement program
I will not go deep into political background of the genocide which
occurred during World War I but one of the basic reasons behind it was
Ottoman insecurity that the Armenian Christian subjects will support
the Russians pushing on in the eastern front of the war. Some
historians also credit it to the policies of the government to create
a unified and pure `Turkish state.'
In the spring and summer of 1915 Armenians all around the empire were
ordered to deport under a fictitious `resettlement program.' Convoys
consisting of hundreds of thousands of Armenians from different parts
of the empire started towards the Syrian Desert. These convoys were
basically death marches because most of the people were subjected to
torture, rape and slaughter during their painful journey towards the
desert. The government did not make any plans for the provision of
food and water and thousands died of starvation and disease. Some
evidence of a primitive form of gas chambers also exists, where women
and children were put into a cave and the entrance of the cave was set
on fire, suffocating the people inside the cave.
The forgotten holocaust
A new `Special Organisation' called the Teshkilti Mahsusa, was formed
as a tool for extermination. Approximated two million Armenians lived
in the Ottoman lands in 1915 but by 1918 an estimated 1 million had
perished and by 1923 a negligible number of Armenians were left in
main Anatolian Turkey.
Photographic and documentary evidence exist of the extermination of
the Armenian race from the Ottoman lands.
This Genocide the forgotten holocaust because it was over-shadowed by
the killing of the six million Jews during the World War II by Nazi
Germany and generally people really don't know about it. It is ironic
because while persuading his associates that a Jewish holocaust would
be tolerated by the west, Adolf Hitler said the following and he was
right:
`Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?
'Events of such magnitude cannot be explained in one article so for
readers who are further interested in knowing about what took place in
the Ottoman Empire during that time, should have a look at the
following:
1.Great War for Civilization: The conquest of the Middle East - By
Robert Fisk (Chapter 10)
2.Subjects of the Sultan: Culture and Daily Life in the Ottoman Empire
- by Suraiya Faroqhi
3.The Knock at the Door: A Journey through the Darkness of the
Armenian Genocide - by Margaret Ajemian Ahnert
4.A Shameful Act: The Armenian Genocide and the Question of Turkish
Responsibility - by Taner Akçam
5.Survivors: An Oral History Of The Armenian Genocide - by Donald E.
Miller and Lorna Touryan Miller
.
http://blogs.tribune.com.pk/story/3713/armenian-genocide-millions-killed-and-forgotten-done/
From: A. Papazian