During World War I, The Young Political faction in Turkey made a secret agreement with Berlin. In return for joining the war against England, France and Russia, they made up their mind to create a new Turkish state extending into Central Asia. Armenians were on the way, so Turkey had to kill all of them. On April 24, 1915, hundreds of Armenian community leaders and intellectuals in Istanbul were arrested, sent east, and killed. After that, Minister of the Interior, Talaat Pasha ordered the deportation of Armenians. More than 1.5 million Armenian were removed and murdered, which was more than half of Armenian population. Now, 90 years later, Turkey doesn’t want to recognize the genocide, but Armenians claim that it really happened and they want the world to recognize it.
Turkey has many reasons to be afraid of world recognition of the genocide. If United States recognizes the genocide, other minor countries will not have any other choice but to recognize it as well. Being in a war with Iraq, United States has to be in a good relationship with Turkey, because American troops get lots of support from them. Already 39 states in the US have recognized the genocide. One of them is Alaska. Alaskan government recognized the Armenian genocide on April 23rd, 1990.
Taking all these facts into consideration and reading history, I think that the Armenian genocide really happened. It is very clear that Turks didn’t just kill Armenians; they tortured them, killed the babies in front of their mothers, and left them in deserts without water for days. All these facts are not only from history books, but stories that eye-witnesses tell. There are lots of survivors who saw everything. There are both foreigners and Armenians among them. During the genocide, the witnesses were kids, and they told how the Turkish government took away their teachers and they never saw them again. This is a fact, and Turks should not be able to argue about it, but they still do.
If these historical facts are not enough, we can see the pictures that were taken during the genocide. We can see dead bodies all over the place, hanged Armenians, very skinny children, who were close to death. Some witnesses tell that the ones who got shot were the luckiest ones. Turks tortured Armenian women the way that no one would dare to do things like that even to animals. They raped them and then cut their breast in front of their kids. Some of them had babies, who were still breastfed. It is impossible to close eyes on those things and say that it was a part of history and now everything is in the past. Although the mass killings are stopped now, it is still a bad memory in every Armenian’s heart. There are only 3 million people left in Armenian. This number is so small for a nation that was created more than two thousand years ago. Turkey killed more than half of today’s Armenian population.
Turkey realizes that they will lose many privileges if they recognize the genocide, but at the same time they want to join the European Union. For that, they have to recognize the genocide. That means that in both ways Turkey is stuck. If they recognize the genocide, they are going to lose the places that they got from Armenians. If they don’t recognize they will not be able to join the European Union. France is the main problem in Europe for Turkey. The president of France told them that there is no way they will sign the paper for Turkey to join the Union.
In Turkey, they have a completely different story about the genocide. They teach the students that the killing of Armenians wasn’t genocide. They just wanted to get the country free of Christians. They never mention that it was the country of Armenians who have been living there for so many years. I understand that the present Turkish government isn’t at fault that their ancestors did the mass killing, but I blame them for one thing: they should not continue hiding the crime that was made years ago.
The Armenian genocide happened. I believe that Turkey really tried to kill all Armenians and make a new country. I hope that one of these days the world will recognize the first genocide in 21st century and Armenians will get their lost land back. Hopefully the new president of the United States will realize that being a friend of Turkey and not recognizing the genocide is not the right thing to do. We all hope that one day Turkey will realize that Armenians were the victims of Turkish government.
Turkey has many reasons to be afraid of world recognition of the genocide. If United States recognizes the genocide, other minor countries will not have any other choice but to recognize it as well. Being in a war with Iraq, United States has to be in a good relationship with Turkey, because American troops get lots of support from them. Already 39 states in the US have recognized the genocide. One of them is Alaska. Alaskan government recognized the Armenian genocide on April 23rd, 1990.
Taking all these facts into consideration and reading history, I think that the Armenian genocide really happened. It is very clear that Turks didn’t just kill Armenians; they tortured them, killed the babies in front of their mothers, and left them in deserts without water for days. All these facts are not only from history books, but stories that eye-witnesses tell. There are lots of survivors who saw everything. There are both foreigners and Armenians among them. During the genocide, the witnesses were kids, and they told how the Turkish government took away their teachers and they never saw them again. This is a fact, and Turks should not be able to argue about it, but they still do.
If these historical facts are not enough, we can see the pictures that were taken during the genocide. We can see dead bodies all over the place, hanged Armenians, very skinny children, who were close to death. Some witnesses tell that the ones who got shot were the luckiest ones. Turks tortured Armenian women the way that no one would dare to do things like that even to animals. They raped them and then cut their breast in front of their kids. Some of them had babies, who were still breastfed. It is impossible to close eyes on those things and say that it was a part of history and now everything is in the past. Although the mass killings are stopped now, it is still a bad memory in every Armenian’s heart. There are only 3 million people left in Armenian. This number is so small for a nation that was created more than two thousand years ago. Turkey killed more than half of today’s Armenian population.
Turkey realizes that they will lose many privileges if they recognize the genocide, but at the same time they want to join the European Union. For that, they have to recognize the genocide. That means that in both ways Turkey is stuck. If they recognize the genocide, they are going to lose the places that they got from Armenians. If they don’t recognize they will not be able to join the European Union. France is the main problem in Europe for Turkey. The president of France told them that there is no way they will sign the paper for Turkey to join the Union.
In Turkey, they have a completely different story about the genocide. They teach the students that the killing of Armenians wasn’t genocide. They just wanted to get the country free of Christians. They never mention that it was the country of Armenians who have been living there for so many years. I understand that the present Turkish government isn’t at fault that their ancestors did the mass killing, but I blame them for one thing: they should not continue hiding the crime that was made years ago.
The Armenian genocide happened. I believe that Turkey really tried to kill all Armenians and make a new country. I hope that one of these days the world will recognize the first genocide in 21st century and Armenians will get their lost land back. Hopefully the new president of the United States will realize that being a friend of Turkey and not recognizing the genocide is not the right thing to do. We all hope that one day Turkey will realize that Armenians were the victims of Turkish government.
