The student media organization of California State University Northridge

Daily Sundial

The student media organization of California State University Northridge

Daily Sundial

The student media organization of California State University Northridge

Daily Sundial

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Facts of Armenian Genocide ignored for too long

On a hot bloody day in April, when the sun was causing red oasis in the sandy deserts of Turkey and Syria, many Armenian intellectuals disappeared and never came back. As it turned out later, they were among the one and a half million that were slaughtered in the first genocide of the 20th century, “The Armenian Genocide.” Although this massacre was preplanned and derived by predetermined motives, it was not referred to as genocide until the Turks started denying this clear historical fact. Armenian genocide should be recognized because denying it ignores the historical reality and outweighs the benefits for the Turkish government.

Genocide is a misanthropic act that is intended to accomplish certain incentives of a group of people through mass killing and extermination of a race. The word itself stems from two Latin words, “gens” meaning race or people and “cid” meaning “to destroy.”

Genocides are generally composed of eight stages, and the last stage is typically Denial. The eight stages of genocides are classification, symbolization, dehumanization, organization, polarization, preparation, extermination, and denial. Armenian Genocide of 1915 was preplanned by the Nationalist Ottoman Empire and organized by Talaat Pasha. The major incentive of the Armenian Genocide was to create a uniform Turkish speaking Muslim territory by cleansing all the non-Turkish minorities and conquering their lands and possessions. Such a utopian territory was neither Turkey nor Turkistan. It was called “Turan.” Mehemd Ziya, the most influential thinker of the Turkish government, who from 1909 to 1918 was a member of the secretive party that ruled the Ottoman Empire for most of the period, the Central Committee of the Union and Progress, said, “The land of the enemy shall be devastated, Turkey shall be enlarged and become Turan.” The only way the Turkish Government could create their desired dreamland “Turan” was by exterminating all the Armenians who were the Christian minority in that region and deporting them to foreign lands. Today, this sad reality has become incredibly hard and disrespectful for the Turkish government to accept. After all, who would want to admit a mass murder of two thirds of a nation?

Despite the Turkish Government’s constant crusade to destroy evidence of the Genocide, there is still tons of evidence remaining to prove it. When I physically went down to Ani, a holy Armenian city which Turkey devastated and killed all its Armenian inhabitants during the genocide, I observed how a government can kill history. All the burnt churches that were evidence of the Genocide were being torn down, or they were reconstructed and represented as Turkish mosques. If a country is not ashamed of her past why would it change her history? A simple answer to this question is that it is always easier to say something did not exist rather than denying an actual fact. There is also unbiased evidence compiled by world famous historians such as Arnold Toynbee and James Bryce. In February 1916, these historians began compiling information and evidence for a publication about recent events in Armenia.

Resistance itself is the most valuable psychological evidence that can lead to the unraveling of the untold and denied truth. If Turkey is confident that the Armenian genocide did not happen and keeps denying this historical fact, then why do they resist those who attempt to produce documents about this fact? “The Forty Days of Musa Dagh” (Mount of Moses), is literature that narrates the story of Armenians inhabiting villages around Mount Moses during World War I. Although, this story is mainly an artwork, it is yet based on true facts, evidence, personal experiences and observations of the author from the genocide. When MGM was trying to produce a movie based on this book, Turkish government called the American authorities to forbid MGM from producing such a movie. This clear resistance shows the fear of the Turks from the popularity and fast transmittance of the truth. If the world finds out about such an inhumane reality in history, it will be a lot harder for Turkey to deny the genocide.

Like all the other genocides, racism is an inevitable factor of the Armenian genocide. The Turks could not stand the Armenians advancements in economy, and their involvement in the political system. Looking back at history we find out that every murder has a murderer, especially if the murders happen in a large amount and at a specific time period. Armenians have been deprived of any meaningful and official recognition of this bloody series of murders. Indeed, the world has not taken the time to listen to the survivors, but this has not kept them from speaking up and narrating bitter stories about the genocide.

Although the Turkish Government has been denying the Armenian Genocide for 92 years, the world is getting more informed about this genocide. Clearly, Turkey will be the last nation to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide, because denying this historical reality outweighs the benefits for the Turkish Government. Naturally, Armenians all around the world will not sit silently. They will protest and fight until they get the genocide recognized by the whole world. It is definitely a possible thing to do, because similar cases such as the Jewish Holocaust have been already tested and have successfully passed this bloody test of recognition. His eminence, Ignatius Peter XVI Batanian once said: “A million and a half Armenian victims horribly massacred, all the Armenian people, shaken but not discouraged, await an answer.”

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