The Armenian Genocide

1915-1923

Historic Armenia

The Armenians• Ancient people whose home has been in

the southern Caucasus since the 7th c. BCE

• 4th c. CE one of Armenia’s kings became a Christian and Christianity has been the state religion ever since

• Armenian alphabet was created to translate the Bible to teach Christianity

Alphabet – 38 letters

7th to 15th centuries• After Islam was founded in the 7th c., all

the countries surrounding Armenia converted to Islam – Armenians held on to their Christian religion

• They lived under series of foreign regimes, suffering hardships, persecution, discrimination, abuse and forced conversions

• Ottomans allowed them to practice own culture, as long as they followed the rules

End of the 19th century• Turkey and Russia were recovering from a

war with each other

• 2.5 million Armenians were ruled by the Turks

• Eastern Armenia was in Russian hands

• Surge in Armenian nationalism led to demands for political reforms

Armenians Want Civil Rights

• Between 1894-1896 ~200,000 Armenians were massacred under Sultan Abdul Hamid II in Turkish provinces

• Russian Tsar closed Armenian schools, libraries, newspapers

• 1903 Tsar confiscated property of the Armenian church

The Young Turks

• 1909 – Ottoman Sultan overthrown by new political group who wanted a modern, westernized style of government

• Talaat Pasha Enver Pasha Jemal Pasha

World War I

• Young Turks supported Germany, and into conflict with Russia again

• Good time to deal with the “Armenian Problem”

• Under cover of war, plans are made to expel Turkey’s Armenian population – ~1.75 million people

Genocide

• German ambassador wrote home:“The government is indeed pursuing its goal of exterminating the Armenian race in the Ottoman Empire.”

• Hundreds of thousands of Armenians were either massacred or force-marched into the desert until they died.

• Over 1 million Armenians died.

Who Knew?

• Everyone knew.

Fast forward, 1939

• “Accordingly, I have placed my death-head formation in readiness – for the present only in the East – with orders to them to send to death mercilessly and without compassion, men, women, and children of Polish derivation and language. Only thus shall we gain the living space which we need. Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?” A. Hitler

Raphael Lemkin(1900 – 1959) - Polish lawyer of Jewish descent.

• Advocate for genocide victim groups Coined the word “genocide” in 1944 based on the Armenian experience.The rooted words genos (Greek for family, tribe, or race) and -cide (Latin for killing to describe intentional destruction of a nation or an ethnic group.

Armenia Today

• Armenia is an independent country with approx. 2.9 million population. 11,500 sq. miles (MA = 10,500 sq. miles)

• Capital City: Yerevan, pop. 1.3 million• Languages: Armenian 98%, Yezidi, Russian • Ethnicity: Armenian 97.9%, Russian 0.5%,

Kurds 1.3%, other 0.3% • Religion: Armenian Apostolic Orthodox 95%,

other Christian 4%, Yezidi 1%