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The Armenian Genocide

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THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

“Kill every Armenian, women, children and men without concern for anything”~ Talaat Pasha, Ottoman Turkish leader. The Armenian Genocide, also known as the Armenian Holocaust was the Ottoman government’s systematic extermination of its minority Armenian subjects from their historic homeland in the territory constituting the present-day Republic of Turkey. It took place from April of 1915 to 1923 (during and after WWI), and was implemented in two phases: The wholesale killing of the able-bodied male population through massacre and forced labor, and the deportation of women, children, the elderly and infirm on death marches to the Syrian Desert. The total number of people killed as a result has been estimated at between 1 million to 1.5 million.
But people may ask why? Armenia had come largely under Ottoman rule during the 15th and 16th centuries. The majority of Armenians were grouped together under the name Armenian Millet (community) and they were led by their spiritual head, the Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople. This community was made up of three religious denominations: The Armenian Apostolic, The Armenian Catholic and The Armenian Protestant, meanwhile the Turkish were Muslim. Basically the Armenian community were persecuted and killed by the Turkish because a religion matter.
The Armenian Genocide it is acknowledged to have been one of the first modern genocides. It have been pointed as an organized manner in which the killings were carried out to eliminate the Armenians, and it is the second most studied case of genocide after the Jew Holocaust.
The starting date of this genocide is held to be April 24, 1915, that day the Ottoman authorities arrested around 250 Armenian intellectuals and community leaders in Istanbul (Constantinople). Shortly after that the military uprooted Armenians from their homes and forced them to march for hundreds of miles, depriving them of food and water to the desert of what is now Syria. The Armenian Massacres were indiscriminate of age or gender, and the majority of the Armenian diaspora communities were founded as a result of the Armenian Genocide.
The Republic of Turkey denies the word ‘Genocide’ as an accurate description of those events, although more than 20 countries have officially recognized the events of that period as Genocide.
What Influence did the Armenian Genocide have on the Nazi Holocaust?
The Armenian Genocide is often speculated to have influenced Adolf Hitler due to his various references to the Ottoman killings of the Armenians. The extent of Hitler’s knowledge of these events is unclear, though he did refer to their destruction several times. The most notable quote attributed to Hitler referring to what happened to the Armenians is excerpted from a military conference on August 1939, before the invasion of Poland: “… I have place my death-head formation in readiness- for the present only in the East- with order 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?
Historians claim that this seems to be part of the Armenian Genocide proponents who are doing campaign for the recognition of the Armenian Genocide by equating it to a proven genocide, the Jew Holocaust, well known for the rest of the world.
What Similarities and/or Differences existed between the Armenian Genocide and the Nazi Holocaust?
• Similarities:

1. Both of these Genocides were very systematic and clearly planned out by the Government. The Armenian Genocide was carried out under direct orders of the Ottoman Empire and The Jew Holocaust by the Nazi Government.

2. Both Genocides also involved “Ethnic Cleansing”. The Ottoman Empire was trying to destroy the Armenian race to create a Pan-Turkish Empire and they also believed that the Christian Armenians were a threat because they were right next to the Russian border. Hitler believed that the Jews were an inferior race and their existence would hurt his power.

3. Both Genocides specifically target religious minority. The Turkish (Muslim), target the Armenians because of their Christian faith and the Nazis (Christian), the Jews obviously because of Jewish believe.

4. Both Genocides involved massive deaths.

5. Deportation, death marches, starvation, and forced labor are some of the stages of both Genocides.
• Differences:
1. Armenian Genocide was during WWI and the Nazi Holocaust during WWII.

2. The Armenians corroborations with The Russian, hostile of The Ottomans during WWI, led the Turkish Government to persecute the Armenian community. In other hand, no one victim of the Jewish community was involved in any activity against the Nazis.

3. The Nazi Holocaust was well documented compared with the Armenian Genocide.

4. The perpetrators of the Nazi Holocaust were brought before justice after the WWII, unlikely those that committed horrendous crimes against the Armenians.

5. The Armenians lost nearly 2 million people and the Jews 6 million.

6. The Turkish government until this day does not accept the fact of what happened to the Armenians was Genocide. The Germans do accept what the Nazi government did to the Jewish population throughout Europe.

How has The Armenian Genocide become a U.S. Political Issue?
The Armenian Genocide became a United States political issue because Turkey has allowed (with some incentives) U.S. military and supply bases on their land for America’s warfare in the Middle East (Iraq), stood behind America in a few wars including the Korean War and has tried to resolve issues of water resources in the Middle East mostly with Israel and Syria. The Turkish Government also contributed to the U.S. War in Afghanistan as it sent its own troops to the coalition struggling against guerrilla fighters in the mountains of Afghanistan.
Turkey also holds a seat on the U.N. Security Council and is one of the most important countries to consider general sanctions against Iran due to its recent Uranium enrichment programs. Basically Turkey holds great influence on some of the most concerning affairs in the world.

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