armenie-historique
The Armenian minority in Ottoman Turkey had been subject to episodic torment over the centuries. In 1894-96, these were stepped up with more violent persecutions. The massacres began in the SE and E provinces of Anatolia and the Caucasus as early as Aug 1914, several months before the Ottomans entered WW1, on the side of the Central Powers. But the worst of the Armenian catastrophe in the Ottoman Empire started in early 1915 when Ottoman authorities, supported by auxiliary troops and some civilians, perpetrated mass killing. The Ottoman government, controlled by the Committee of Union and Progress-CUP/aka Young Turks, aimed to solidify Muslim Turkish dominance in the central and eastern regions of Anatolia, by eliminating the sizeable Armenian presence.
From 1915, inspired by rabid nationalism, secret government orders and WW1 fever, the Young Turk government drove Armenians from their homes and massacred them in greater numbers. The Young Turk Regime rounded up thousands of Armenians and hanged many in the streets of Istanbul. Then they began a genocidal deportation of most of the Armenian population to the southern desert. This meant they were murdered en route to the desert or died when they reached there. Although figures on the death toll were uncertain, historians believed 800,000-1 million people were killed, often in unspeakably cruel ways. Unknown numbers of others survived by converting to Islam, lost to Armenian culture.
Called the First C20th Genocide, the Armenian genocide referred to the annihilation of Armenian Christian people living in the Ottoman Empire from 1915-16. There were c1.5 million Armenians living in the multi-ethnic Ottoman Empire in 1915. c1 million died in the genocide, either in massacres, from ill treatment, exposure or starvation.
Mass atrocities were often perpetrated within the context of war, so the timing of the Armenians genocide was inevitably linked to WW1. Fearing that invading enemy troops would induce Armenians to join them, the Ottoman government began the deportation of the Armenian population from its N.E border regions in 1915. In the following months, the Ottomans expanded deportations from almost all provinces, regardless of distance from combat zones.
Victims of the Armenian genocide included people killed in local massacres that began in 1915; others who died in deportations, from starvation, dehydration, exposure and disease; and Armenians who died in the desert regions of the southern Empire [today: Nth and E Syria, Nth Saudi Arabia and Iraq]. Plus tens of thousands of Armenian children were forcibly removed from their families and converted to Islam.
Were there any locally written reports and photos? In 1917 John Elder, a divinity student from Pennsylvania, joined the American Committee for Armenian and Syrian Relief Team that was aiding refugees. For 2 years, Elder did volunteer work with Armenian orphans when he photographed refugees and conditions at camps. Armin Wegner served as a nurse with the German Sanitary Corps. In 1915 and 1916, Wegner travelled throughout the Ottoman Empire and documented atrocities carried out against the Armenians, including children lying dead in the street.
And some influential foreigners spoke out against these atrocities eg British Prof of International History Arnold Toynbee. But how is it that other Christian countries didn’t intervene? Or at least take those Armenians who survived as refugees? US Ambassador to Constantinople Henry Morgenthau Sr (1856-1946) was deeply troubled by the atrocities committed against the Armenians and was one who sought to stir the U.S’s conscience in response. The plight of the Armenians triggered a generous public response, involving President Woodrow Wilson and thousands of ordinary American citizens who volunteered both at home and abroad, and raised $110+ million to assist Armenian orphans.
This genocide almost ended 2,000+ years of Armenian civilisation in eastern Anatolia. The First Republic of Armenia (1918–20) was the first modern establishment of an Armenian nation. And it enabled an ethno-nationalist Turkish state, Republic of Turkey in 1923, as the successor state of the Ottoman Empire. Note that the Turkish government always maintained that the deportation of Armenians was a legitimate action, and therefore was never genocide.
The word genocide wasn’t formally coined until 1944, although the origin of the term and its codification in international law had their roots in the 1915–16 Armenian massacre. Lawyer Raphael Lemkin, himself a Polish Jewish refugee, was the man behind the first UN human rights treaty, the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. He repeatedly stated that early exposure to the Ottoman Armenian genocide in newspaper was key to the need for legal protection of groups, the core element in the 1948 UN Genocide Convention. In any case, it has only been since the 1970s that scholars have offered close attention to this human catastrophe.
Refugee camp
Bodies in a field, a common in Armenian provinces in 1915 .
Britannica
Ottoman military forces march Armenians to an execution site
Holocaust Encyclopaedia
The modern Republic of Armenia became independent in 1991 with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Most Armenians today are Christians (97%) and are members of the Armenian Apostolic Church.
30 comments:
Another dreadful time in history Hels.
The Turks were notorious for their cruelty. Is it fear of the minority or a lust for power and supremacy that drives appalling acts? They happen still, all over the world, mostly little reported.
It may well be true that this genocide almost ended 2,000+ years of Armenian civilisation in eastern Anatolia. But if there was no reporting of the Armenian genocide in most of the countries of the world, who would have known even where Armenia was. Very different from the Vietnam and Korea Wars.
Genocide is a horrible and disgusting act that has been happening since the start of time, it is something that we hope will never happen again but then it does
Thank you for the story about Armenian genocides which I know nothing about
I worked with a French woman of Armenian heritage and passed down from her parents she was very bitter about what happened and how the world watched on. I have a better understanding now, thanks.
Thank you for educating me of the full extent of the massacre of the Armenians.
Margaret
it was indeed a terrible time in history, with my post being written because so many people are saying now is one of the worst times for centuries.
The Armenian Genocide was possibly more hideous than the Americans dropping nuclear bombs on hundreds of thousands of Japanese civilians and the Afghanistan War which killed up to 1.5 million people.
jabblog
agreed. If hundreds of thousands of babies died of starvation in France or Italy as they are dying in Somalia, every newspaper and tv news service across the world would be full of horrified details. But who knows where Somalia is?
Joe
I think the Korean and Vietnam wars so involved people in from other countries, it almost seemed like multi-national wars.
North Vietnam, for example, was supported by the Soviet Union, China etc; South Vietnam was supported by the United States, South Korea, Philippines, Australia and Thailand.
Jo-Anne
sadly you are correct. There may never be a time when the peoples and governments of the world learn from past genocides and prevent them ever happen again.
I CAN imagine a time when the word genocide is banned and governments explain that they are simply legally controlling their own minority populations.
roentare
Shamefully I have to acknowledge ..me too :(
Andrew
That poor woman. It breaks my heart.
The government in Constantinople sent out orders to the regional officials, ordering mass shootings and deportations. Ottoman military, security authorities and their collaborators wanted every Armenian man of fighting age to be murdered, as well as endless numbers of women, children and elderly.
So I imagine surviving Armenians who went to other countries wouldn't risk telling what happened to their families at home, just in case they were deported. Or because they were afraid the Ottomans would follow the survivors into other countries, in revenge.
Fun60
Two good books worth reading are:
1] “The Armenian Genocide” edited by Wolfgang Gust and
2] “The Armenian Genocide: A Complete History” written by Raymond Kevorkian.
The old saying goes "money is the root of all evil" but I think that's wrong. I'd say Religion is the root of all evil. Followed closely by the greed for money and power.
Hi Helen! I hope you are healthy and your family is having a good summer. Is it really winter in Australia now, not summer?
Thank you for writing about Armenia. I believe that Armenia was more independent when it was part of the Soviet Union. Do you know where most Armenians live now? No, not in Armenia. Most Armenians live in Russia. They feel great in Russia. Now Armenia, thanks to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, has become a puppet of the United States.
The Turks were incredibly brutal to fellow men. On 6th May 1916 they marched 2500 British and Indian soldiers to death along a 1200 mile forced march. Whipped and scourged as they walked, the Turks on horses and camels across the Syrian desert from Kut.
River
I am uncertain. If religion was responsible, it was not a blatantly advertised issue. So perhaps we can examine political independence, economic control, their own legislation, military alliances etc
The Ottomans aimed to solidify Muslim Turkish dominance in the regions of central and eastern Anatolia, given that the Armenians had already had a history of wanting self-control. So it wasn't a surprise when in 1912, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation officially severed the relations with the Ottoman government. But WW1 brought it to chaos point - by that time, the Ottoman government ordered the deportation or execution of most Armenians.
Irina
it was true that Russia did have more Armenians than Armenia had, even once Armenia became an independent nation in 1991. Thank goodness the surviving Armenians had a safe place to go to, a place where their children and grandchildren could safely survive.
Although Armenia now has a bigger population of Armenians than Russia does, the two nations seem to have maintained a trusting relationship, perhaps due to Armenia's economic strengths - minerals and industrial production. However I have no idea about military relations since 1991.
Rachel
Although it may have been a brutally cruel event, I want to mention two important points.
1] The Turks were in the middle of WW1 in 1916, fighting the enemy however they could. The Turks may have breached the Laws of War, but that was far from genocide of an entire minority population.
2] The Turks did not try to wipe out women, children and elderly civilians.
Yes, I understand and was not detracting from the Armenia genocide that you were writing about. It just came to my mind as an event of inhuman behaviour at around the same time by the Turks and they did not need to do what they did to those men.
Rachel
Actually I agree. Bestial behaviour is disgusting in every nation of the world, during war or otherwise.
Very interesting to read ! The French singer Charles Aznavour was of Armenian origin and had a terrible childhood until he became very famous in France.
There is something strange, when I try to open your blog I get "error" but now I tried from Andrews blog and landed here !
Gattina
I didn't know Aznavour's parents were from Armenia until I saw he won the Raoul Wallenberg Award for his humane actions in WW2. This very brave man was part of the Manouchian resistance group carried out attacks on the Germans in 1943, and in particular he rescued and hid Jews and Armenians in his home in Paris.
Re the error issue, I have no problem with your posts, but I have had other errors that drive me nuts :( No problems since 2008 and now problems every day.
Hi Hels - there's so much to learn from that part of the world ... piecing all the countries together over the millennia is not easy ... lots and lots to learn and appreciate - thanks for this - cheers Hilary
I believe our Past Treasurer Mr Joe Hockey was of Armenian descent . I think his parents or grandparents came to Australia . No doubt not with the name Hockey . i think there are quite a few people in Australia of Armenian descent .The Pontian's are another group who suffered terribly at the hands of the Turks at this time . They descended from Alexander The Greats troops who settled around the black see in ancient times it is thought . They spoke an ancient for m of Greek so when ordered back to Greece they were not understood by the modern Greeks and many immigrated to Australia and the US . Most of the Greek Cafe owners in the small towns off Australia were actually Pontian .
mem
Horizon Weekly wrote: Joe Hockey was the son of a Bethlehem-born Armenian father, Richard Hokeidonian. He became a Member of The Australian Parliament in 1996 then took various Ministerships. Joe Hockey was Australia's most senior government minister to place on record the historical reality of the Armenian genocide, despite his leader Prime Minister Tony Abbott backflipping to avoid the use of the word genocide. He was a brave man.
Hilary
very true, whether we are professional historians, students or modest bloggers.
Kira
Have you done any reading or writing on the Genocide? What do you recommend?
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