The Armenian Genocide

For hundreds of years, genocide was a crime without a name. Though there have been reports of genocide dating back to biblical times, the term ‘genocide’ wasn’t created until 1944, after the Armenian Genocide had already been completed and when the Holocaust was already underway. The term ‘genocide’ is used to describe the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious or national group.

In December of 1948, after the Holocaust, a meeting was held to define genocide and discuss how to prevent it from occurring in the future. The United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide was signed in December 1948, and has been in force since January 1951. Article II of the convention defines genocide as ANY of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, as such: (a) Killing members of the group, (b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group, (c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part, (d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group, or (e) Forcibly transferring children of one group to another group.

While the Holocaust is perhaps the best-known genocide that has occurred to date, the first modern genocide occurred from 1915-1918, during World War I.

The Armenian Genocide

Background

The Armenians are a group of people who have existed since before the first century. Today, Armenia is its own country located in Eurasia. But in 1914, the Armenian people did not have their own country, and instead were one of the ethnic groups that lived in the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Empire had once been a large empire that controlled parts of Asia, Africa and the Middle East. But by 1914, the Ottoman Empire was falling apart, with many former territories having gained their independence. In 1914, the Ottoman Empire was centered on the country of Turkey. Christianity is an important part of the Armenian identity, and ancient Armenia was the first country to adopt Christianity as their country's religion. Christianity set the Armenians apart from many of the other national and ethnic groups who lived around them, most of whom practiced Islam which means they were Muslims.

The Ottoman Empire was an empire made up of people of many different nationalities and ethnic groups. The Armenians were considered second-class citizens of the Ottoman Empire because they were Christians. They were given the freedom to practice their religion, but they had to pay extra taxes and they faced discriminatory laws, which prevented them from working in the government, among other things. Despite these restrictions, most Armenians saw themselves as being part of the Ottoman Empire.

The Early Massacres

During the 19^th century, the Ottoman Empire started to decline, losing territory to Russia and Britain. They were also forced to give independence to some parts of the empire, which then formed their own countries. The Armenians were not actually one of the groups who wanted to become their own country; instead, the Armenians were happy to remain part of the Ottoman Empire, as long as they were given the same rights as all other Ottoman citizens, and were not punished because of their Christianity. The Armenians organized political groups within the Ottoman Empire to help them get more rights.

Initially, it looked like the Armenians would be given more rights. A treaty was passed that included a clause that would have given more rights to the Armenians, including equal taxes, protection from attacks, and the right to testify in courts. Unfortunately, these rights were never actually granted to the Armenians. When the rights weren’t granted, the Armenians protested against the government, and the government responded with massacres. However, these massacres were only the beginning.

Between 100,000 and 300,000 Armenians were killed in these first massacres, which mostly took place during the late 1800’s. As a result of the massacres, many Armenians moved out of the Ottoman Empire and went to live in Europe and the United States. Others converted to Islam to avoid being persecuted.

From Bad to Worse

In 1908, it looked like things were going to get better for the Armenians. Groups of minorities within the Ottoman

Empire (Armenians, Greeks, Arabs, Jews) started to work with the Turks in order to challenge the power of the sultan, the traditional leader of the Ottoman Empire. This new government called themselves the “Young Turks.” The Young

Turks wanted to create a modern country that represented all of the people of the empire and treated them all fairly. The Young Turks overthrew the sultan and created a new constitution for the Ottoman Empire that they said would protects the rights of all Ottoman people.

Unfortunately, the Young Turks were unable to fulfill their promises. The progressive members of the group were eventually forced out of power, and other members of the Young Turks took over, creating a totalitarian government and adopting policies that were intolerant toward people of different religious or ethnic groups. From 1908 until 1915, there were a series of small massacres that occurred in Armenian cities.

By the spring of 1915, the Ottoman Empire had entered World War I on the side of Germany and the Axis Powers. The

new leaders of the Ottoman Empire decided to seize the opportunity of a world distracted by war to get rid of the Armenian presence from the Ottoman Empire. Beginning in April of 1915, Armenian civil leaders, intellectuals, doctors, businessmen and artists were rounded up and killed. Once the leaders were killed, the genocide plan was put into effect, and many Armenian men were quickly executed.

Using the new technology of telegraphs and railroads, the Ottoman leaders had women and children rounded up and loaded onto trains or sent on death marches to the Syrian Desert. With little food or supplies, the women and children had little hope of survival. While on these trips, women were often sexually abused, and children were sometimes sold or given away to Turkish families to be raised by them as Turks. Some of the women and children were killed along the way at the whim of their captors. Some Armenians were rescued by Arab nomads who would take them into their groups and protect them, and some sympathetic Turkish people would help their Armenian friends and neighbors hide or escape. However by 1918, due to violence, starvation, dehydration or illness, most Armenians in the Ottoman Empire had died. By 1923, the Armenians, a nearly 3,000 year old civilization, virtually ceased to exist. One and a half million Armenians, more than half of the original population, were dead. Armenian communities were scattered, and their property had been stolen or taken by the government.

The Aftermath

At the time of the Armenian Genocide, the term genocide did not even exist. What the Ottomans had done to the Armenians was not even considered a crime, because the violence was committed against people of their own country, and it was believed that countries had a right to decide what happened within their borders. Countries were aware of what was happening in the Ottoman Empire, but many felt that they could not intervene. The American ambassador, Henry Morganthau, wrote extensively about how conflicted he felt about the Armenian Genocide. As a diplomat, he was unable to intervene, but he made sure that the story of the genocide appeared in American newspapers, and he supported charities in the United States that raised money to send aid to the Armenians. However, despite his efforts, not much was done to prevent the killing.The American ambassador Henry Morganthau said, ""When the Turkish authorities gave the orders for these deportations, they were merely giving the death warrant to a whole race; they understood this well, and, in their conversations with me, they made no particular attempt to conceal the fact… I am confident that the whole history of the human race contains no such horrible episode as this. The great massacres and persecutions of the past seem almost insignificant when compared to the sufferings of the Armenian race in 1915."

Despite the fact that the Armenian Genocide has been confirmed by an overwhelming number

of historians, organizations and foreign governments, the Turkish government actively denies that the Armenian Genocide ever took place. In fact, there is a law in Turkey, passed in 2004, that makes it a crime to discuss the Armenian Genocide. It is punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

Today, most of the survivors of the Armenian Genocide have passed away. Armenian communities thrive in the United States and Europe (in Watertown!), and many Armenians returned to the country of Armenia when it was established as an independent country in 1918.

The Armenian Genocide also served as an inspiration to Adolf Hitler and his decision to target the Jews during the Holocaust. Hitler studied the Armenian Genocide, and concluded that it was possible to get away with mass murder, especially when there is a war going on to distract other countries from your actions. Below is a quote from Hitler about his decision to invade Poland:

"I have issued the command - and I'll have anybody who utters a word of criticism executed by firing squad - that our war aim is... the physical destruction of the enemy...with orders to send to death mercilessly and without compassion, men, women and children. Only thus shall we gain the living space which we need. Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?"

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