August, 9, 2009
Amernian Spoken Truth
Armenians Spoken Truth When I first heard of Genocide I knew only a small amount, now my eye’s are open to what has and is going on in different countries. The Holocaust we learned about in Elementary and High School so that’s how I became interested in learning more outside the class when it comes to that. So just like the Jews the Armenians deserve that same attention and this is my way of showing that I do care and want to know more about them. To date it is estimated that 1.5 million lives were taken by force during the years of 1915-1917 ruled by the Turkish government. No one was spared not man, women, nor child the suffering was un-bearable people where starving, being, raped, even forced into concentration camps. Armenian men in the Ottoman Empire aka Turkish government were disarmed and forced into battalions then killed. On April, 24, 1915 the Armenian political and intellectual leaders were rounded up and killed . Then the remaining Armenians were rounded up and told that they were being relocated, and then marched off into concentration camps in the desert were they starved and thirst to death in the blazing sun. The authorities in Trebizond a country on the Black Sea coast did their’s a little different they would take the Armenians and load them on barges or freight boats and sink them far out at sea. Along side the Armenians being destroy there were 5 million Greek Christians in Turkey at the time of World War 1 they were also targeted for programs of deportation, and forced marches leading to death.
What’s sad is that they have been almost entirely forgotten they were Greek Orthodox victims living along the Anatolian European coast in 1914. Because of the massive killings by 1923, Greece had received about a million people mostly elderly and children, able-bodied adults did not make it to safety. There were some who spoke openly about what was going on one of the people who did speak was Mustafa Kemel, the founder of modern Turkey in 1923 he called Genocide and abomination of the past. Meaning that the past had to stay in the past and that it was time for a new future with new possibilities. Even now the Turkish government denies that the genocide actually happened, or suggested that typhoid a disease infection or the Russians and the Germans were responsible for the massive loss of life. To them the word genocide isn’t acceptable according to the chairman of a group of former Turkish ambassadors. The Turkish president Ahmet Necdet Sezer said the accusations of genocide doesn’t have a strong foundation and that the word upsets and hurts the feelings of the Turkish nation. But what I don’t get is how they can be hurt but what about the people this happen to how do they feel or do they not care.
There are thoughts flowing around that because of the Turkish government unwillingness to admit their predecessor’s acting hand in the genocide of the Armenians. It may threaten the prospect for their future membership in the European Union. In many ways I think that it is justified seeing that European Nation stands against genocide both past and present. The French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier believes that in time Turkey should come to terms with it’s past, and make peace with the tragedy that took place. He also states that during their negotiation process he will talk to them about that and how both of the parties will have ten years collectively to think about what was discussed and come to a deciding answer from the Turkish government.
Since then the Armenians has been declared an act of genocide meaning the mass murder at hands of the Ottoman Turks. Also the Turkish Prime Minister and opposite leader Deniz Baykal agreed to talk about the past. The Prime Minister stated that the state archives meaning documents in Ankara and Istanbul are open to everyone. In a shocking turn the Armenia President Sargsyan invited the President of Turkey to come and watch a World Cup qualifier game between their two soccer teams. After that the people representing both states had a meeting to discuss opening their border, opening up new diplomatic relations, and helping with tensions between the two countries. Even though we are in American our government media does care about what is happening over seas. So CNN did a special on genocide it was called Scream Bloody Murder it was fact based information on the different genocides committed throughout history. The thing that upset Khachatourian of Armenia Now.com is that they were not in the documentation and they felt that Scream Bloody Murder was an important piece of journalism and his people deserved to be foreseen he. As a end result The Armenian genocide is one of top genocides discussed throughout the world whether politically or in the class room never to be forgotten but as a reminder that even the dead has a voice.
One Day At A Time
Silver Lining
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