On April 24th of each year, Armenians throughout the world commemorate the first modern genocide of the 20th century as they remember their ancestors who perished at the hands of the Ottoman Turkish Empire. As a result of the campaign to annihilate an entire race, approximately 1.5 million Armenians were eliminated from the ancient homeland they had inhabited for thousands of years. The atrocities committed by the Turkish regime in 1915 were reported in the headlines at that time here in the United States and throughout Europe and are also documented in the official archives of many countries including Turkey itself. The New York Times covered the fate of the Armenians in articles with headlines such as "Appeal to Turkey To Stop Massacres" (NYT, 4/28/1915), "Turks Are Evicting Native Christians" (NYT, 7/12/1915), and "Armenians Are Sent to Perish in Desert" (NYT, 8/18/1915). Currently, many countries such as Greece, Argentina, Russia, France, Belgium, Canada, Cyprus, Italy, Lebanon, and Sweden have acknowledged the validity of this documentation and have recognized the Armenian genocide by passing formal resolutions. However, despite the countless accounts of violence against the Armenian people the Turkish government continues to deny the Armenian genocide. The refusal to recognize such a horrible event is in effect an approval of the mass killings and deportations that occurred at the hands of the Ottoman Turks.
The accounts provided at the time by the United States Ambassador to Turkey, Henry Morgenthau, exhibits the plight of the Armenians and the terror which they had to endure. Morgenthau, who is of Jewish origin, stated that "when the Turkish authorities gave orders for these deportations, they were merely giving the death warrant to a whole race: they understood this well, and in their conversation with me, they made no particular attempt to conceal the fact". Morgenthau is directly responsible for relaying to his American colleagues the atrocious acts that were being committed against the Armenian people. Dr. Israel Charny, an Israeli and a scholar of Holocaust and Genocide studies in Jerusalem, is a founder of the Encyclopedia of Genocide which primarily analyzes the Holocaust and Armenian genocide. On June 9th, 2000, 126 Holocaust scholars acknowledged the indisputable fact of Armenian genocide by signing a petition published in the Times that urged Western states to bring recognition to the atrocities which occurred. Among these scholars was Elie Wiesel, winner of the Nobel Peace prize in 1986 and a former chairman of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council.
Recently, an increasing number of Turkish scholars have brought attention to the genocide. Taner Akcam, a Turkish intellectual and historian, appeared on television in Istanbul in March, 2001 while participating in a forum discussing the horrible events which occurred in 1915. Akcam addressed the Turkish nation on the facts of the genocide and stated "If you can't bring yourself to describe it as genocide, call it a massacre. But it was a crime against humanity. Ask forgiveness from the Armenian people and make a commitment that in Turkey, political dissent and disagreement should no longer be treated as an offence." Akcam understands the severity of the Armenian genocide and the actions taken by Talaat Pasha, one of the leaders of the Turkish regime, to exterminate the Armenians from the region. Robert Fisk, a journalist from Great Britain who is held in high regard as a foreign correspondent, has also advocated for recognition of the Armenian genocide throughout his career. It is apparent that the people who have supported remembrance of the Armenian genocide are from a broad variety of backgrounds. Their opinions continue to elicit both the support and understanding of the international community.
I have been affected by the Armenian genocide throughout my life because I am a descendant of survivors. My great grandfather resided in the village of Kilis in South Central Turkey at the time of the massacres. Along with several other Armenian families, my great grandfather and his family lived peacefully in this region. At the outset of the mass murder of Armenians, my great grandfather was informed that they would come for him in several days in the Turkish attempt to eliminate the Armenian community and intellectual leaders. He refused to flee the village, not realizing that his pride would contribute to his eventual death. Two Turkish gendarmes soon thereafter knocked on the door of my great grandfather's house and asked that he accompany them away from the area. My great grandfather said goodbye to each individual weeping family member. They all knew that they would never be a complete family ever again. He was taken along with many other prominent Armenians to the barren desert of Der Dzor, Syria, where he was simultaneously massacred with so many other innocent Armenian people. My great grandmother and her children were forced to flee with the rest of the Armenians and were fortunate enough to subsequently find refuge in modern day Lebanon. Throughout her journey, my great grandmother witnessed the atrocities which were committed by the Turkish army. Dead Armenian women and children were scattered in fields and on the side of roads. For three weeks, my great grandmother and her children marched away from their home through the desert with minimal food or water. As a result of our Christian Armenian heritage, my family was persecuted by the Ottoman Turkish regime. Denying the actions of the leaders of the Ottoman Empire is an insult to the memory of the Armenian martyrs. It is also morally wrong. When there is an outright denial of a documented historical truth, the subsequent resentment that occurs is pervasive within the population that has been mistreated. I, personally, have absolutely no qualms with people today whose past government subjected my family and hundreds of thousands of other Armenian families to the deportations and torture which took place. They are not responsible for such actions. However, I am deeply offended, angered, and hurt when I am told that what happened to my family did not actually take place or was justified because Armenians were willing to side with the Russian army during World War One. A large diaspora of Armenians exists in the world today because of the genocide. I feel that there is no justification for the brutality observed in the early part of the 20th century in a civilized world.
I am proud to be affiliated with a university such as Tufts that commemorates the Armenian genocide every year and goes to great lengths to educate their students on the horrible events that took place in the early 20th century. A plaque that stands outside Goddard Chapel commemorates the 1.5 million Armenians who perished at the hands of the Ottoman Turkish Empire. This plaque serves the purpose of bringing remembrance to the fate of my ancestors. Indeed, I am extremely capable of forgiving, but am not capable of forgetting. This genocide must not be forgotten and must be known to the world to prevent future mass killings from occurring. This past April 24, President George W. Bush issued a statement in remembrance of the victims of the genocide in 1915. "Today, we commemorate an appalling tragedy of the 20th century, the massacre of as many as 1.5 million Armenians through forced exile and murder at the end of the Ottoman Empire. These horrific killings left wounds that remain painful for people in Armenia, in Turkey, and around the world. I join the Armenian community in America and across the globe in mourning this horrendous loss of life." This statement is in stark contrast to many Turkish leaders who continuously deny past governmental actions. The late Turkish leader Turgut Ozal indicated in 1994 during the time of unrest in the former Soviet Union that it was necessary to "teach" Armenians the "lessons of 1915", a direct reference to the genocide. Commemoration of the Armenian genocide on an international level is essential. The need for modern Turkey to come to terms with its past is an even greater necessity. Horrific crimes and atrocities may only cease to exist when all brutal acts of the past have been properly recognized.
Alain Chaglassian is a senior majoring in Economics.
