What is Armenian Genocide?
1.
On April 24th, 1915, 1.5 million Armenians were brutally wiped off the face of the Earth in a genocide perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire- a genocide that may never be remembered. Official recognition of the Genocide has evaded Armenia and her people since then. The Turks still deny official recognition of the genocide to this day.
This issue bears no prejudice toward the Turks, but they need to come to terms with their history, and the Armenian Genocide needs to be recognized by the world. No matter how much the event is denied, history cannot be rewritten, and 1.5 million people did not simply vanish.
People are working toward the official recognition of the event, and the USA is on the verge of officially recognising the 1915 genocide. A band (whom in my opinion are the greatest band ever by the way),
While persuading his associates that a Jewish holocaust would be tolerated by the west, Hitler stated:
"Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?"
No, I'm not Armenian. But hopefully you would at least be aware of this event after reading this.
1.5 million Armenians were slaughtered in the Armenian Genocide.
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2.
The controversial name used by many to refer to a great number of Armenian deaths in World War 1.
Some interesting facts related to the issue include:
- The deportation order was only given for the Armenians in Eastern Anatolia. The Armenian population in other parts of the empire were not forced to leave their land, nor were they harmed at all. These, in addition to general population, included Armenian officers who worked within the government, such as the ones who served as undersecretaries, ambassadors, senators, and even the minister of foreign affairs of the time. This clearly shows that the purpose of the order was not to wipe the entire race of Armenians.
- The definition of "genocide" and its official definition as a crime did not exist until it was defined by the United Nations in 1948, which was more than 30 years after the events occured.
- According to the Ottoman records, the total population of Armenians in 1914 "within the whole empire" was 1.2 million. According to the Armenian resources of the time, it was 1.58 million. Other international sources of the time, including British, French, German give figures ranging between 1.06-1.6 million. Since these figures were for the whole Armenian population within the empire, not just the ones in the region who were deported, and considering the fact that many of the deported Armenians made it through, it is evidently clear the number of people died was certainly not 1.5 million.
- Many of the major "evidence" used to support Armenian claims have been proven beyond doubt to be counterfeit by independent researchers.
- The Turkish prime minister has made an offer to his Armenian colleague in 2005, offering to form an international commission of neutral international researchers and historians to investigate the issue, and that Turkey will accept whatever results they will come up with. The Armenian PM refused, saying that they would only accept if Turkey opens the land border, which was closed by Turkey in 1993 due to the Armenian attacks in Nagorno-Karabakh, a totally unrelated issue. If the Armenians were confident of their claims, they would accept this offer at once, instead of putting forward unrelated prerequisites.
- The events of 1915 are not defined as genocide by numerous respected international historians, who are having lots of trouble making their voice heard.
However, none of these points (and many more I just don't have the time to write) do not change the fact that hundreds of thousands of innocent Armenians have died. Despite the tragedy of the events, it doesn't make sense to ignore and even punish the opposing viewpoints on such a complicated and controversial issue. If what the Armenians want is recognition and acceptance, they should encourage more discussion on the issue rather than trying to impose their one-sided points of view and silencing the others who have some things to say. There are thousands of documents out there. Maybe thousands of books have been written on this issue. Many scientists have devoted their lives into searching it, and even they have contradicting views.
While it is stupid of some to deny that this thing ever happened, it is as much stupid to confidently define it as a genocide, or reject that it is one for that matter, by reading only a few pages about it.
- Hey, I read this webpage the other day, and now I know that Armenian Genocide was a genocide indeed.
- Wow, good for you. I read hundreds of books, articles, and theses, I have discussed it with thousands of scientists, and examined many original documents. I have been researching this issue for years and I even I was not sure if it was a genocide or not. Thanks for enlightening me.
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