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REMEMBERING A GENOCIDE 97 YEARS LATER
ARMENPRESS
APRIL 19, 2012
YEREVAN
YEREVAN, APRIL 19, ARMENPRESS: They were left unprotected, robbed, and
without the means to protect themselves. Their husbands, fathers, and
sons were arrested and executed in the desert. The women and children
got loaded on to trains under the pretense of being transported to
safety, but rather sent to die, after buying a return ticket of course,
reports Armenpress citing The UBYSSEY.
If these events sound like the Holocaust during WWII, that's because
they inspired it.
During the eve of April 24, 1915, 250 Armenian community leaders,
academics, artists, and clergy were arrested and deported from Istanbul
in the middle of the night. This event marked the beginning of one
of the bloodiest events in the 20th Century, the Armenian Genocide.
We have just constituted an Armenian Students Association Club which
strives to bring the richness of Armenian culture to UBC, as well
as issues important to the welfare of the world. We have made it our
initiative to bring understanding to this hardened and often neglected
chapter of history to raise awareness.
Under the cover of WWI, the Turkish Ottoman Empire carried out an
extermination resulting in the genocide of over 1.5 million Armenians,
Assyrians and Greeks. Turkey's government has denied this for the
last 97 years despite an overwhelming body of evidence from official
government records, memoirs, telegrams, photographs and eye-witness
accounts from archives around the world. Today, the denial continues.
Claiming genocide or insulting any part of the Turkish history today
is punishable under a law called Article 301, and can result in two
years or more in prison under their current "Anti-terror" legislation.
It can even cost you your life.
This denialist view is so strong in Turkey that it reaches fever
levels. Armenian journalist Hrant Dink was assassinated in 2007
for writing about the government's denial of its own history. The
arresting officers later posed for a photo with his killer, praising
his courage. Actions like these are not fitting of a country with a
secular, free government encouraging free speech and democracy.
Indeed, they are not fitting of any governing body.
Today, Turkey has more journalists in prison than any other country
in the world because of laws like Article 301. It is a crime to even
criticize the nation's history or speak Kurdish in the parliament.
To put this geo-political and criminal issue into perspective,
imagine if the current German government denied the actions of the
Third Reich on the Jews living in Europe. The outrage and anger from
any government or organization would be so severe that they would be
the laughing stock on a global stage. Meanwhile, this government is
allowed to continue its falsification of history and to prosper on
land which actually belongs to the Republic of Armenia as per the
Treaty of Sevres signed at the end of WWI.
As Adolf Hitler described on the eve of the Polish Invasion: "Who,
after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?" Had the
Armenian genocide been recognized, the perpetrators been prosecuted
and reparations been made, it may have prevented the atrocities about
to take place.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
ARMENPRESS
APRIL 19, 2012
YEREVAN
YEREVAN, APRIL 19, ARMENPRESS: They were left unprotected, robbed, and
without the means to protect themselves. Their husbands, fathers, and
sons were arrested and executed in the desert. The women and children
got loaded on to trains under the pretense of being transported to
safety, but rather sent to die, after buying a return ticket of course,
reports Armenpress citing The UBYSSEY.
If these events sound like the Holocaust during WWII, that's because
they inspired it.
During the eve of April 24, 1915, 250 Armenian community leaders,
academics, artists, and clergy were arrested and deported from Istanbul
in the middle of the night. This event marked the beginning of one
of the bloodiest events in the 20th Century, the Armenian Genocide.
We have just constituted an Armenian Students Association Club which
strives to bring the richness of Armenian culture to UBC, as well
as issues important to the welfare of the world. We have made it our
initiative to bring understanding to this hardened and often neglected
chapter of history to raise awareness.
Under the cover of WWI, the Turkish Ottoman Empire carried out an
extermination resulting in the genocide of over 1.5 million Armenians,
Assyrians and Greeks. Turkey's government has denied this for the
last 97 years despite an overwhelming body of evidence from official
government records, memoirs, telegrams, photographs and eye-witness
accounts from archives around the world. Today, the denial continues.
Claiming genocide or insulting any part of the Turkish history today
is punishable under a law called Article 301, and can result in two
years or more in prison under their current "Anti-terror" legislation.
It can even cost you your life.
This denialist view is so strong in Turkey that it reaches fever
levels. Armenian journalist Hrant Dink was assassinated in 2007
for writing about the government's denial of its own history. The
arresting officers later posed for a photo with his killer, praising
his courage. Actions like these are not fitting of a country with a
secular, free government encouraging free speech and democracy.
Indeed, they are not fitting of any governing body.
Today, Turkey has more journalists in prison than any other country
in the world because of laws like Article 301. It is a crime to even
criticize the nation's history or speak Kurdish in the parliament.
To put this geo-political and criminal issue into perspective,
imagine if the current German government denied the actions of the
Third Reich on the Jews living in Europe. The outrage and anger from
any government or organization would be so severe that they would be
the laughing stock on a global stage. Meanwhile, this government is
allowed to continue its falsification of history and to prosper on
land which actually belongs to the Republic of Armenia as per the
Treaty of Sevres signed at the end of WWI.
As Adolf Hitler described on the eve of the Polish Invasion: "Who,
after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?" Had the
Armenian genocide been recognized, the perpetrators been prosecuted
and reparations been made, it may have prevented the atrocities about
to take place.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress