Armenia genocide
Dates
1915-1916
DIFFICULT LIFE CONDITIONS
By the 1800's the Ottoman Empire was in a serious decline, there was a halt in technological progress. During this time of declining, the European counties were becoming industrial giants. The Turkish armies had once been invincible, but during their decline Europeans started taking over. During this time period the Ottoman Empire were loosing territories in Europe and Africa. The Armenians and Arabs in the Middle East were in bankruptcy, while under rule by Sultan Abdul Hamid. The Young Turk government took over to put a stop to the decline. Three of the leaders of the Young Turks were Mehmed Talaat, Ismail Envergoal and Ahmed Djemal, they created devious plans to reunite Turkey. They wanted to unite all the Turkic people into a region, while expanding Turkey's borders. They would form a new Turkish Empire consisting of one language and one religion, a homogenous state. The only way to expand and have one religion is eliminate the Christian Armenians.
SENSE OF SELF/ WAY OF LIFE THREATENED
The Ottoman Empire's way of life was threatened because of their multinationalism, which weakened their government making them less powerful to other states. This is when the Young Turk government, Mehmed Talaat, Ismail Envergoal and Ahmed Djemal, formed a goal to eliminate the multicultural Ottoman Empire. In result, they turned to a killing the Armenians, who were still Christian opposed to Islam, which is what the Young Turks demanded everyone to be in order to be a homogenous state. Also Mehmed Talaat, Ismail Envergoal and Ahmed Djemal wanted to expand the Turkey borders, but over two million Armenians were in the way. The Armenians reputation for high education threatened the Turks, causing them to be the target of the Genocide. This led to large massacres by the Turks to eliminate the Christian Armenians.
US VS. THEM MENTALITY
The us, the Turks in the Ottoman Empire, targeted the Armenian race in the Ottoman Empire. They devalued their Christian beliefs, which were preventing The Ottoman Empire from become a homogeneous state. The Armenians reputation for high education, made the Turks want to diminish them. A new social identity was formed, The Young Turks, who were the leaders of the plan to devalue the Armenians.
Continuum of destruction
In order for the young Turks to be able to expand Turkey's borders eastward across Caucasus into central Asia, they need to take down 200 Armenian villages, 30,000 Armenians were killed in this massacre. The extermination orders, from Triumvirate, were transmitted by coded telegrams to Governors throughout turkey. Armenian political leaders, educators, writers, and clergy were taken from their homes and jailed, tortured, then shot or hanged. Next were mass arrests of Armenian men by the Turkish soldiers. First they were tied together and taken to the outskirts of town and shot dead. The next targeted group was children, women and elderly, on short notice they had to pack their stuff and they were told they were going to a non- military zone for safety, but really they were on a death march to the Syrian desert. The children were threatened into denouncing Christianity and converting to Muslim. They were given new muslim names, and the boys had to get a circumcision, a part of the islamic tradition. The continuum of destruction caused 1,500,000 deaths of Armenians.
ROLE OF BYSTANDERS
Great Britain, France and Russia responded to the news of the massacre by issuing a warning to Turkey "... The allied governments announce publicly... that they will hold all members of the Ottoman government, as well as such of their agents as are implicated, personally responsible for such matters." This didn't help Armenians at all. Some relief came when Russians came into central Turkey. Although, the troops withdrew when the Russian revolution started, but the Armenians withdrew with them and they were able to settle in former provinces of the former Russian Empire. Representatives from Armenia Fledgling Republic of Armenia attended a Paris Peace conference, where they asked to get their land back from the Turks. President Woodrow Wilson responded to this by attempting to make Armenia an official US protectorate, the Congress rejected this. So, President Wilson made a treaty of Sevres, and was signed August 10,1920, by the allied powers, the republic of Armenia and the moderate leaders of the Turkish. This treaty made Armenia independent and granted their land back.
Cultural CHARACTERISTICS
One of the main reasons for the Armenian Genocide were the cultural differences between the Turks and the Armenians, the Turks wanted to put an end to it and create a homogenous population of just Islamic Turks. The population of Christian Armenians got in the way of expanding the Ottoman Empire as well as getting in the way of a homogenous society. The Turks killed all of the Christian men, raped and killed the Christian women, and all of the children left were threatened to convert to Muslim. Both the Boys and Girls got Islamic names, and the boys had to have a circumcision, which is part of the Islamic custom. The Turks demolished any remaining cultural heritage of the Armenians, priceless masterpieces, historic architecture, and old archives. The Turks destroyed three thousand years of civilization.
Leaders and FOLLOWERS
The Leaders of the Armenian Genocide were young turks, a coalition of various groups who wanted to reform the Ottoman Empire. There were three main leaders who made the commands, and they were Cemal Pasa, Enver Pasa, and Talat Pasa, who were the central committee of the Young Turks who planed the executions of the Armenian Population. The actual mass killing of the Armenians was carried out by Turkish soldiers, officers, and other Turkish citizens who wanted a part in the persecutions of Armenians.
use of state power
State power was used to deport and masacre Armenians. Soldiers carried out orders from the Young Turk Party
result
The Armenian Genocide should defiantly be considered a genocide because it fits all of the points on the Staub Model. There was a group targeted and demonized, and it was based on religious views. The Turks wanted to develop a homogenous society so they had to eliminate the Christian Armenians. The use of State was involved, which is where the Young Turk Party came in to demonize the Armenians. There was a continuum of destruction that resulted in 1,500,000 deaths.
primary source
"Clouds don't lift. Priests taken, church and monastery seized.... Emin Bey [military commander], when asked what were to become of women and children, replied: 'The Government has its plans for them.' It looks as if the crushing or annihilation of the race were aimed at."- Observer of the Genocide
Connection: The main goal that the young Turks had in mind was developing a homogenous society, and the Christian Armenians were in the way of that so they took the priests and monasteries.
Connection: The main goal that the young Turks had in mind was developing a homogenous society, and the Christian Armenians were in the way of that so they took the priests and monasteries.
primary source
A letter sent by an observer of the Genocde
"Armenia without the Armenians" - that is the Ottoman Government's project. The Muslims are already being allowed to take possession of the lands and houses abandoned by the Armenians. The exiles are forbidden to take anything with them. In the districts under military occupation there is nothing left to take, as the military authorities have carried off, for their own use, everything that they could lay hands on. The exiles have to traverse on foot a distance that involves one or two months' marching and sometimes even more, before they reach the particular corner of the desert destined to become their tomb. We hear, in fact, that the course of their route and the stream of the Euphrates are littered with the corpses of exiles, while those who survive are doomed to certain death, since they will find in the desert neither house, nor work, nor food. It is simply a scheme for exterminating the Armenian nation wholesale, without any fuss. It is another form of massacre, and a more horrible form.
Connection: This primary source was written by an American bystander who gave their opinion and observations towards the terrible genocide. They describe that the Armenians were treated very brutally and resulted in death of a mass amount of people. These people were forced to march in the deserts until they were to die and those who were to survive weren’t provided with any food, water. It shows that the Turkish had a very strong passion to get rid of the Armenians, just to result in a homgenous society of Muslims.
"Armenia without the Armenians" - that is the Ottoman Government's project. The Muslims are already being allowed to take possession of the lands and houses abandoned by the Armenians. The exiles are forbidden to take anything with them. In the districts under military occupation there is nothing left to take, as the military authorities have carried off, for their own use, everything that they could lay hands on. The exiles have to traverse on foot a distance that involves one or two months' marching and sometimes even more, before they reach the particular corner of the desert destined to become their tomb. We hear, in fact, that the course of their route and the stream of the Euphrates are littered with the corpses of exiles, while those who survive are doomed to certain death, since they will find in the desert neither house, nor work, nor food. It is simply a scheme for exterminating the Armenian nation wholesale, without any fuss. It is another form of massacre, and a more horrible form.
Connection: This primary source was written by an American bystander who gave their opinion and observations towards the terrible genocide. They describe that the Armenians were treated very brutally and resulted in death of a mass amount of people. These people were forced to march in the deserts until they were to die and those who were to survive weren’t provided with any food, water. It shows that the Turkish had a very strong passion to get rid of the Armenians, just to result in a homgenous society of Muslims.
primary source
“The systematic extermination of the men continued; Public hangings without trial -- the only offense being that the victims were [male] Armenians -- were taking place constantly. The gendarmes showed a particular desire to annihilate the educated and the influential.”- US ambassador for Turkey
Connection: This connects to the State Power involved in this genocide to create systematic extermination, which made the genocide possible. It also connects to the continuum of killing that was taking place, and the torture that these Armenians faced. It can also connect to a sub group of people that they were targeting, the well educated, that were a threat to the turks.
Connection: This connects to the State Power involved in this genocide to create systematic extermination, which made the genocide possible. It also connects to the continuum of killing that was taking place, and the torture that these Armenians faced. It can also connect to a sub group of people that they were targeting, the well educated, that were a threat to the turks.