Marina Merrel and Dr Sarah Larsen: What is the Armenian Genocide? Countries like France, Argentina, Greece, and Russia, recognize what happened in the Ottman Empire during between the years 1915 and 1918 as the Armenian Genocide. Genocide by definition is the organized killing of a people for the express purpose of putting an end to their collective existence. Today, it is important to understand that the Turkish government carried out an event against the entire Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire. The Armenian people were subjected to deportation, expropriation, abduction, torture, massacre, and starvation. The great bulk of the population was forcibly removed from Armenia and Anatolia to Syria. Large numbers especially women and children were abducted and horribly abused. The entire wealth of the Armenian people was expropriated. After the end of W.W.I, the atrocities were renewed between 1920 and 1923, and the remaining Armenians were subjected to further massacres and expulsions. In 1915, thirty-three years before UN Genocide Convention was adopted, the Armenian Genocide was condemned by the international community as a crime against humanity. Who was responsible for the Armenian Genocide? The decision made by the political party in power in the Ottoman Empire. This was the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) (or Ittihad ve Terakki Jemiyeti), popularly known as the Young Turks. Three figures, Mehmet Talaat, Minister of the Interior in 1915 and Grand Vizier (Prime Minister) in 1917; Ismail Enver, Minister of War; Ahmed Jemal, Minister of the Marine and Military Governor of Syria. The Young Turk conspirators, other leading figures of the wartime Ottoman government, members of the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) Central Committee, and many provincial administrators responsible for atrocities against the Armenians were indicted for their crimes at the end of the war. They were tried in absentia and found guilty of capital crimes. The massacres, expulsions, and further mistreatment of the Armenians between 1920 and 1923 were carried by the Turkish Nationalists, who represented a new political movement opposed to the Young Turks, but who shared a common ideology of ethnic exclusivity. How many people died in the Armenian Genocide? Estimated that one and a half million Armenians perished between 1915 and 1923. Were there witnesses to the Armenian Genocide? Many witnesses to the Armenian Genocide. Among them were U.S. diplomatic representatives and American missionaries. Some of their reports made headline news in the American and Western media. Many Turkish officials were witnesses as participants in the Armenian Genocide. A number of them gave testimony under oath during the post-war tribunals. What was the response of the international community to the Armenian Genocide? The international community condemned the Armenian Genocide. In May 1915, Great Britain, France, and Russia advised the Young Turk leaders that they would be held personally responsible for this crime against humanity. There was a strong public outcry in the United States. At the end of the war, the Allied victors demanded that the Ottoman government prosecute the Young Turks accused of wartime crimes. Relief efforts were also mounted to save "the starving Armenians." The American, British, and German governments sponsored the preparation of reports on the atrocities and numerous accounts were published Why is the Armenian Genocide commemorated on April 24? That night the Turkish government placed under arrest over 200 Armenian community leaders in Constantinople. Hundreds more were apprehended soon after. True intentions revealed and implemented. As the persons seized everyone was alerted about the dimensions of the policies being entertained and implemented by the Turkish government. Their death presaged the murder of an ancient civilization. April 24 is, therefore, commemorated as the date of the unfolding of the Armenian Genocide. Are the Armenian massacres acknowledged today as a Genocide according to the United Nations Genocide Convention? The United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide describes genocide as "acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group." Clearly this definition applies in the case of the atrocities committed against the Armenians. Because the U.N. Convention was adopted in 1948, thirty years after the Armenian Genocide, Armenians worldwide have sought from their respective governments formal acknowledgment of the crimes committed during W.W.I. Countries like France, Argentina, Greece, and Russia, where the survivors of the Armenian Genocide and their descendants live, have officially recognized the Armenian Genocide. However, as a matter of policy, the present-day Republic of Turkey adamantly denies that a genocide was committed against the Armenians during W.W.I.

• published: 24 Apr 2015
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