What is Armenian Genocide?

April 24, 2006 marks the 91st anniversary of the first Genocide of the 20th Century, known as the Armenian Genocide. The Armenian Genocide was carried out by the "Young Turk" government of the Ottoman Empire in 1915-1916 (with subsidiaries to 1922-23). In 1915 the Armenian population was near two and a half million; although the Genocide wiped out more than half of the population. The aim of the genocide was to destroy and seize Armenian businesses and properties. It was also aimed to completely annihilate the advanced and superior Armenian civilization.

About 90 years ago the rulers of the Ottoman Empire, in a struggle to save their empire from the approaching collapse due to numerous external and internal factors such as economic exploitation and reviving nationalisms among the empire’s ethnic minorities.

A racialist as well as a nationalist ideology known as Turkism was accepted. While Turkism was raising the Turkish ethnos it was also defining the minorities as spiteful and annihilative entities actively donating to the collapse of the empire. Eventually this ideology provided grounds for a distinct Turkish national economy to be established effectively ending the traditional multi-ethnic mercantile race of the empire which was composed of mainly Greeks, Jews and Armenians.

The ethnic minorities became more and more vulnerable to attacks and harassment. Their businesses were constantly attacked by frenzied Turkish mobs. Prominent Armenians were constantly harassed as well. The closeness in religion and geography to neighbor Russia did not help; although Russia was at war with Turkey as well. Throughout all this injustice, none of the European powers nor the U.S. arbitrated nor intervened.

And on April 24, 1915 almost all Armenian intellectuals in the empire were executed without a reason. And after putting to death the bulk of the Armenian leadership and reducing the viability of resistance to nil, the Turkish government began the systematic deportations and massacres of the Christian Armenians all together.

In their attempt to destroy the Armenian name and culture the Ottoman Turks burned down churches and villages. Large numbers of women and children were killed with inexpressible cruelty. Throughout the first three years an estimated 1.5 million Armenians fell victim to aimless massacres. Regardless of all the evidence and eye witness accounts recorded during those horrific years by survivors of the genocide as well as foreigners, the Turkish government continues to deny to this date that they committed such barbarous atrocities and mass murders. Turkey denies such a thing ever happened and continues to refuse to accept the responsibility and admit the guilt.

Every year, on April 24 Armenians all over the world pay tribute to the murder of their nation. The murder of 1.5 million innocent and defenseless men, women, children, and elders.