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ARMENIANS COMMEMORATE 97TH ANNIVERSARY OF GENOCIDE
By Palash R. Ghosh
International Business Times
http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/332565/20120424/armenian-genocide-turkey-ottoman-empire-obama-russia.htm
April 24 2012
Armenians around the world are observing the 97th anniversary of the
genocide of their people that took place in Ottoman Turkey during
World War I.
According to historical accounts, on April 24, 1915, the ruling party
of the Ottoman Empire, the Young Turks, ordered the murder of Armenian
intellectuals, leaders, artists and businessmen living in the empire.
That order led to the deportation and killings of untold numbers of
Armenians and others.
Between 1.5 million and 2 million Armenians are believed to have
been massacred in 1915-1918 amidst the chaos and disintegration of
the Ottoman Empire. Armenian Christians were suspected of being loyal
to Russia instead of Muslim Turkey.
If these numbers are accurate, about half of the total Armenian
population was wiped out in just three years.
The massacres may have also helped Adolf Hitler believe he could get
away with exterminating the Jews and others during the Holocaust
during the following world war. Prior to invading Poland in 1939,
Hitler reportedly declared: "Who, after all, speaks today of the
annihilation of the Armenians?"
The Turkish government has always denied that the murders were a
state-sanctioned genocide and claimed that the actual number of deaths
was far less -- perhaps between 300,000 and 500,000. The Turks claim
that Armenians who perished were simply the victims of war.
Yerevan Remembers Those Lost
In Yerevan, the capital of the modern state of Armenia, thousands
marked the tragedy in a procession, carrying candles and laying
flowers at an eternal flame in the middle of a genocide monument.
"Today we, just as many, many others all over the world, bow to
the memory of the innocent victims of the Armenian genocide," said
President Serzh Sarkisian, who laid wreaths at the monument.
"This day is one of those moments when the entire nation rallies
around the unification of our homeland."
An elderly mourner, 75-year-old Tsovinar Tumasian, told Agence
France-Presse that Turkey must take responsibility for the mass
murders of Armenians.
"If they are not forced to do so, they will not recognize the genocide
as fact. They think that with time, everyone will forget about it,"
she said.
The night before the commemoration, 8,000 members of the youth brigade
of the nationalist Dashnaktsutyun party staged a march in Yerevan
which culminated with the burning of a Turkish flag.
"Our action is a protest, a cry of indignation," a student named
Hamayak Serobian told AFP, adding that the Turks must acknowledge
"the brutality of their ancestors."
By Palash R. Ghosh
International Business Times
http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/332565/20120424/armenian-genocide-turkey-ottoman-empire-obama-russia.htm
April 24 2012
Armenians around the world are observing the 97th anniversary of the
genocide of their people that took place in Ottoman Turkey during
World War I.
According to historical accounts, on April 24, 1915, the ruling party
of the Ottoman Empire, the Young Turks, ordered the murder of Armenian
intellectuals, leaders, artists and businessmen living in the empire.
That order led to the deportation and killings of untold numbers of
Armenians and others.
Between 1.5 million and 2 million Armenians are believed to have
been massacred in 1915-1918 amidst the chaos and disintegration of
the Ottoman Empire. Armenian Christians were suspected of being loyal
to Russia instead of Muslim Turkey.
If these numbers are accurate, about half of the total Armenian
population was wiped out in just three years.
The massacres may have also helped Adolf Hitler believe he could get
away with exterminating the Jews and others during the Holocaust
during the following world war. Prior to invading Poland in 1939,
Hitler reportedly declared: "Who, after all, speaks today of the
annihilation of the Armenians?"
The Turkish government has always denied that the murders were a
state-sanctioned genocide and claimed that the actual number of deaths
was far less -- perhaps between 300,000 and 500,000. The Turks claim
that Armenians who perished were simply the victims of war.
Yerevan Remembers Those Lost
In Yerevan, the capital of the modern state of Armenia, thousands
marked the tragedy in a procession, carrying candles and laying
flowers at an eternal flame in the middle of a genocide monument.
"Today we, just as many, many others all over the world, bow to
the memory of the innocent victims of the Armenian genocide," said
President Serzh Sarkisian, who laid wreaths at the monument.
"This day is one of those moments when the entire nation rallies
around the unification of our homeland."
An elderly mourner, 75-year-old Tsovinar Tumasian, told Agence
France-Presse that Turkey must take responsibility for the mass
murders of Armenians.
"If they are not forced to do so, they will not recognize the genocide
as fact. They think that with time, everyone will forget about it,"
she said.
The night before the commemoration, 8,000 members of the youth brigade
of the nationalist Dashnaktsutyun party staged a march in Yerevan
which culminated with the burning of a Turkish flag.
"Our action is a protest, a cry of indignation," a student named
Hamayak Serobian told AFP, adding that the Turks must acknowledge
"the brutality of their ancestors."