The Armenian Genocide

Suprisingly, the Turks and Armenians lived in peace during the Ottoman Empire. Although, the Armenians were not equal and had to put up with certain hardships, there was very little violence. As the Christian minorities gained their independence one by one, the Armenians became more and more isolated as the only Christian minority. The Armenians and Turks began to have conflicting feelings about the future. As European powers began to ask for assurances that Armenians receive better treatment, the government began to treat the Armenians worse. A plan was formed to completely eradicate the Armenian race.

World War 1 gave the Turk government the excuse to carry out their plan. The plan was carried out on April 24, 1915. Hundreds of Armenian Leaders were summonsed to Istanbul by the Turk government and murdered. Across the Ottoman empire, the same thing happened from village to village. The Armenians did not know what was planned for them. They were under the impression that the Turks were going to relocate them, little did they know they were on a “death march”. The Armenians were raped, starved, dehydrated, murdered, and kidnapped. Those who survived the “death march” to the Syrian Desert, were to be killed when they arrived.

Those who lead the Armenian genocide were brought to trial by the Turkish government and found guilty of abstentia, and were later executed by the Armenians. Turkey agreed to let the US draw a border between the Republic of Armenia and the Turkish government. In the past few decades the Turkish government has even went as far as denying the genocide ever took place, spending large sums of money in order to cover it up. This has added insult on top of injury to the family of the survivors.