Armenians making comeback in society

If I were asked, “What is an Armenian?” the first
thing that would pop into my head would be, “Do you know
Cher? She’s Armenian. How about tennis great Andre Agassi? or
the creator of the ATM, Luther Simjian? He’s Armenian
too.”

I’d then go into Armenian history mode and explain that
Armenians are an ancient people traced back over 3,000 years who
lived and prospered on the lands of what is now known as Turkey.
I’d automatically move from there into the aspect of
religion, and explain that Armenia was the first Christian nation
that adopted Christianity in 301 AD. I’d start talking about
how Armenians are famous for their miniature paintings, their
architecture, the good food, beautiful dance, and their unique
language and alphabet.

The next topic would be the Armenian Genocide and how we almost
lost everything that was Armenian. I would explain that the Turkic
people emigrated into Armenia and eventually established the
Ottoman Empire. The Armenians prospered as merchants, translators,
artists, poets and philosophers. After 600 years of Ottoman rule,
in 1908 the “Young Turk Government” lead by Talaat,
Enver and Jemal decided it best to unite all Turkic peoples and
nations into one empire. These Turkic people were all east of
today’s Turkey. This plan came to be known as
“Pan-Turkism”. The main group of non-Turkic people in
the way of this unification was the Armenians. The easiest way to
solve this problem was to deport and kill them all.

On April 24, 1915, hundreds of leaders of the Armenian Community
of the Ottoman Empire were rounded up and killed. Once the heads of
the community were gone, it would be easier to deport and kill the
rest of the Armenian population. Through death marches in the Der
Zor Desert, rape, starvation, dehydration, killing unborn fetuses,
kidnaping of children and murder in the hands of Turkish officers,
1.5 million Armenians lost their lives.To this day, the Turkish
government denies the past and refuses to accept the fact of the
Armenian Genocide. They use any lie necessary, pay American PR
firms and threaten their own citizens not to speak out in order to
ensure that the truth of the Armenian Genocide does not come to
surface.

Unfortunately due to the ties that the United States has with
Turkey, our government does not recognize the Armenian Genocide as
a genocide. The phrase most widely used by our government is the
Massacre of Armenians.

In actuality, the tragedies of 1915 were nothing if not
genocide. According to the United Nations Convention on the
Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, there are five
guidelines of genocide. The guidelines are: a) Killing members of
the group; b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of
the group; c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of
life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or
in part; d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the
group; e) Forcibly transferring children of a group to another.The
Armenian Genocide consists of all five categories.

Only about half a million Armenians survived the Armenian
Genocide. If the plan of the Young Turks was completed, I
wouldn’t be writing this, many of your classmates would not
be around, and maybe there would be no Cher or Agassi. Perhaps we
wouldn’t even have the ATM.

Furthermore, did you know that the MRI was invented by Dr.
Damadianok, an Armenian? Spandex was invented by Spanjian, an
Armenian. Armenians such as these, and many more, would not be
around if the plan of the Young Turks had been completed.

Pulitzer Price winner and famous author William Saroyan wrote,
“I should like to see any power of the world destroy this
race, this small tribe of unimportant people, whose wars have all
been fought and lost, whose structures have crumbled, literature is
unread, music is unheard, and prayers are no more answered. Go
ahead, destroy Armenia. See if you can do it. Send them into the
desert without bread or water. Burn their homes and churches. Then
see if they will not laugh, sing and pray again. For when two of
them meet anywhere in the world, see if they will not create a New
Armenia.

Armenians lived through the Genocide of 1915, survived it, lived
through hardships after the genocide, and today prosper once
more.

Garibyan is a fourth-year history student.