As citizen’s of a modern society, it is our responsibility to acknowledge the disturbing actions of our past, avoiding ignorance in order to preserve peace and prevent future loss of life, therefore, it is crucial that the Armenian Genocide should be recognized by everyone as premeditated genocide. In the shadow of World War I, one of the world’s first systematic genocides transpired within the Ottoman Empire. From 1908 to 1922 the Turkish government arrested, executed, and deported over 1.5 million Armenians, following a premeditated and systematic campaign to exterminate the entire people. The decline of power in the Ottoman empire coupled with the fear of domestic conflict had provoked new government, the Young Turks, to idealize an exclusively
…show more content…
Following this initial attack, there were mass arrests of Armenian men. Many were tied together with rope and taken to the outskirts of their town and shot dead by death squads. Local Turkish and Kurdish civilians also participated in these killings. Next, women, children, and the elderly were ordered to take few belongings with them and leave their homes, under the promise of relocation. In reality, they were led on death marches leading south towards the Syrian Desert. The death marches covered hundreds of miles, and would last months. “Indirect routes through mountains and wilderness areas were deliberately chosen in order to prolong the ordeal and keep the caravans away from Turkish villages.” During the marches, food and water would quickly become scarce and many would die of starvation or dehydration. If people were unable to continue marching, they were shot. Those that managed to survive these marches were thrown into the desert without water, thrown off of cliffs, burned alive, or drowned in rivers. Muslim Turks began to occupy previously owned Armenian properties, villages and belongings. Some Turks prevented Armenian children from being “deported” and instead forced them into denouncing Christianity to become a Muslim, and then provided the children with new Turkish names. This forced conversion required circumcision as well for the Armenian boys. Turkish officers escorted the caravans consisting of thousands of “deported” Armenians. These guards allowed governmental groups of criminals known as a “Special Organization” to attack the caravans, killing or raping anyone as they pleased. Many Armenian girls were also forced into lives of involuntary servitude. Lastly, towards the end of the genocide, the Turkish countryside was
Following this initial attack, there were mass arrests of Armenian men. Many were tied together with rope and taken to the outskirts of their town and shot dead by death squads. Local Turkish and Kurdish civilians also participated in these killings. Next, women, children, and the elderly were ordered to take few belongings with them and leave their homes, under the promise of relocation. In reality, they were led on death marches leading south towards the Syrian Desert. The death marches covered hundreds of miles, and would last months. “Indirect routes through mountains and wilderness areas were deliberately chosen in order to prolong the ordeal and keep the caravans away from Turkish villages.” During the marches, food and water would quickly become scarce and many would die of starvation or dehydration. If people were unable to continue marching, they were shot. Those that managed to survive these marches were thrown into the desert without water, thrown off of cliffs, burned alive, or drowned in rivers. Muslim Turks began to occupy previously owned Armenian properties, villages and belongings. Some Turks prevented Armenian children from being “deported” and instead forced them into denouncing Christianity to become a Muslim, and then provided the children with new Turkish names. This forced conversion required circumcision as well for the Armenian boys. Turkish officers escorted the caravans consisting of thousands of “deported” Armenians. These guards allowed governmental groups of criminals known as a “Special Organization” to attack the caravans, killing or raping anyone as they pleased. Many Armenian girls were also forced into lives of involuntary servitude. Lastly, towards the end of the genocide, the Turkish countryside was