A Brief History of the Armenian Genocide PDF

Social Education 69(6), pg 333–337 ©2005 National Council...

Social Education 69(6), pg 333–337 ©2005 National Council for the Social Studies A Brief History of the Armenian Genocide Sara Cohan “I am confident that the whole history of the human race con- tains no such horrible episode as this. The great massacres and persecutions of the past seem almost insignificant when compared with the sufferings of the Armenian race in 1915.” Henry Morgenthau, American ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, 1913–1916.1 Who Are the Armenians? The Armenians are an ancient people who have existed since before the first century C.E. Armenia has gained and lost a tre- mendous amount of territory throughout its long and turbulent history. Boundaries of the past have extended from that of the present-day Republic of Armenia and through most of modern day Turkey. The name “Armenia” was actually given to the country by its neighbors; inhabitants of Armenia refer to it as “Hayastan” derived from the name Haik, a descendent of Noah (from the Bible), and “stan” which means “land” in Persian. The Armenian language is unique from other Indo-European languages, with its own distinct letters and grammar. Christianity is a deeply rooted aspect of Armenian history and culture. Armenia was the first nation to adopt Christianity as a state religion, in 301 C.E. This early Christian identity has greatly influenced Armenian culture, setting it apart from most of its neighboring peoples. The majority of Armenians belong to the Eastern or Western dioceses of the Armenian Apostolic Church, an orthodox form of Christianity. Although Armenia was at times a kingdom, in modern times, Armenia has been an independent country for only a 1919: An Armenian refugee woman and her son. (Photo by Percival Richards/Hesketh Collection/Getty Images). few years. It first gained independence in 1918, after the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in World War I, but this ended when Armenia was invaded by the Red Army and became a Soviet Early Massacres state in 1920. With the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, The Seljuk Turks began to inhabit Anatolia as early as the elev- Armenia was the first state to declare its independence, and enth century and by 1453 their descendants, the Ottoman Turks, remains an independent republic today. Armenia is a democ- had captured Constantinople (now Istanbul), firmly establish- racy and its borders only include a very small portion of the ing the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Empire was a multina- land that was historic Armenia. tional state that incorporated several ethnic groups including O cto b e r 2 0 05 333 the Armenians. The Armenians were of decline, during which it lost territo- tions from tribal attacks, and the right to second-class citizens of the Ottoman ries to Russia, Great Britain, and new give evidence in Ottoman courts of law. Empire and while they were granted states created by nationalities that had Unfortunately these rights were never some freedoms, including the ability to once been part of the Ottoman Empire, granted as the Sultan was empowered practice Christianity, they were faced such as Greece, Serbia, Bulgaria and by the treaty to serve as the protector with extra taxes and discriminatory laws Romania. Early in the century, Russia of the Armenians. This was in contrast extending to their participation in the had gained some of the eastern to the terms of the earlier Treaty of San justice system, government, and their Armenian provinces, including Tiflis, Stefano, which the Treaty of Berlin civil and property rights. which became a cultural center for replaced, and which had assigned the By the mid-1800s, as the idea of Russian Armenians. Russian Armenians Russians the responsibility of ensuring constitutionalism swept through Europe, became increasingly interested in sup- that the Armenians in Ottoman terri- some Armenians began to demand more porting Armenians within the Ottoman tory would gain more rights. The rea- rights, such as protection from corrupt Empire in their quest for human rights. son for the change was that the presence government officials and biased taxation. The newly created Ottoman Armenian of Russian troops in the region was of While most Armenians saw themselves political organizations received some concern to Great Britain and the other as members of the Ottoman Empire, support from Russian Armenians and “Great Powers” of Europe who wanted organized groups of intellectuals pro- Russia in their quest to gain equal rights to deter the expansion of Russia. tested the discriminatory laws, seeking under Ottoman law. After the Treaty of Berlin, Ottoman reform from the government, though not The Treaty of Berlin (1878) Armenians continued to protest discrim- an independent sovereign state. included a clause that would provide inatory laws and eventually the Sultan During the nineteenth century, the more rights for Ottoman Armenians, responded to these protests with mas- Ottoman Empire experienced a period including fair taxation practices, protec- sacres. Massacres of the Armenians S o c i a l E d u c at i o n 334 began in the late nineteenth century under Abdul-Hamid II, the last of the Ottoman Sultans actually to rule the empire. The worst massacres during this time occurred from 1894-1896 after a tax protest by Armenians. They are now known as the Hamidian Massacres and some believe represented a foreshadow- ing of the genocide to come. During the Hamidian Massacres, 100,000 to 300,000 Armenians were killed in towns and villages through- out areas of the Ottoman Empire. Thousands of Armenians fled and found refuge in Europe and the United States. Some who stayed converted to Islam in order to save their own lives. The massacres caught the world’s attention because of their unique nature. Armenians were unarmed and adhered to the perimeters set forth by the Ottoman government. The massacres were publicized in newspapers through- out the world. The U.S. media paid par- ticular attention to the events. The New York Times as well as other news sources regularly published articles about the brutal killings, coverage that would con- S o c i a l E d u c at i o n 188 tinue through the Armenian genocide. Many American missionaries and of a participatory government in the the government lost out to a group pro- diplomats who worked throughout the Ottoman Empire. moting authoritarian rule and a radical Ottoman Empire witnessed the atroci- Armenians, Arabs, Greeks, Jews, policy of Turkification. ties firsthand and helped mobilize and Kurds had begun working with a In April 1909, Armenian hopes relief efforts. Aid for Armenian victims group of Turks to challenge the author- were dashed as Hamidian supporters in became the first international mission of ity of the Sultan. This group was known the city of Adana carried out a massacre the American Red Cross. as the Ottoman Liberals and the Turkish of Armenians as part of an attempt to re- Later during the genocide, a soci- coalition of the group adopted the name establish the power of the Sultan. Adana ety known as the Near East Relief “Young Turks.” They wanted to create a was heavily populated by Armenians would raise more than $100 million in modern state that represented inhab- and had at one time been part of assistance to Armenians; the funds col- itants of the Ottoman Empire more Armenian territory. Despite attempts lected saved countless Armenian lives equally and render the Sultan politi- at resistance, in the end almost 30,000 in the 1890s and during the genocide, cally powerless. In 1908, one of the Armenians were killed and nearly half which at the time represented more Young Turk groups, the Committee of the city destroyed. money than all the aid raised to help Union and Progress (CUP), marched on tsunami victims this year. While the Constantinople, and overthrew Sultan The Armenian Genocide funds collected saved countless victims’ Abdul-Hamid. The culprits of the Adana Massacre lives, it was the only aid Armenians Over the next year, the Ottoman were never punished and after 1909, would see. Empire developed a constitutional an extreme nationalist political move- government providing equal rights for ment promoting a policy of Pan-Turkism Hope to Despair all of its citizens. Ottoman Armenians (“Turkey for the Turks”) gained backing In 1908, Armenians and other minori- hoped that the new constitution would from Turkish populations throughout ties of the Ottoman Empire began to protect them from the violence they the Ottoman Empire. In addition, the rejoice in what promised to be a new endured under the Sultan. However, as Ottoman Empire, now known as the era of tolerance and the establishment time passed, advocates of liberalism in “sick man of Europe,” was weakened O cto b e r 2 0 05 335  by the loss of its lands in south-eastern campaigns that straddled territory inhab- Organizations: Europe in the Balkan Wars of 1912-13. ited by Armenians on both sides of the One of the Ottoman Empire’s great- border. The Ottoman Empire was badly The Genocide Education Project (www.genocideeducation.org) est enemies was Russia, as Russia was defeated by Russia in a campaign in the The Genocide Education Project constantly threatening the security of the winter of 1914-15, and the government is a nonprofit organization that Ottoman borders and controlled parts of then made the Armenian community a assists educators in teaching the eastern edge of the Ottoman Empire scapegoat for the military losses that had about human rights and geno- that was populated by Armenians. Since occurred at the hands of the Russians. cide, particularly the Armenian the Russians had advocated for Armenian By the spring of 1915, leaders of the genocide, by developing and reforms in the past and because the ruling party, the CUP, seized the oppor- distributing instructional materi- Russian army did have Armenians serv- tunity of a world preoccupied by war to als, providing access to teaching ing as soldiers, the Ottoman government erase the Armenian presence from almost resources and organizing educa- was concerned that Ottoman Armenians all Ottoman lands. The CUP was a tri- tional workshops. might commit traitorous acts. This fear umvirate led by Mehmet Talaat, Ismail [email protected] helped to fuel Turkish public sentiment Enver, and Ahmed Jemal. Beginning on 51 Commonwealth Avenue against Armenians. April 24, 1915 (now commemorated as San Francisco, CA 94118 The Ottoman Empire entered World the beginning of the Armenian genocide), (415) 264-4203 War I in 1914, fighting against Russia in Armenian civil leaders, intellectuals, Facing History and Ourselves www.facinghistory.org) Online Resources: Facing History and Ourselves is an international educational and www.TeachGenocide.org (www.TeachGenocide.org) professional development organi- www.TeachGenocide.org is a cyber resource library published specifically for teach- zation whose mission is to engage ers by The Genocide Education Project where various teaching resources on the students of diverse backgrounds Armenian genocide and other gross human rights violations are available to down- in an examination of racism, preju- dice, and anti-Semitism. load for classroom use. Available resources on TeachGenocide.org include: lesson plans, newspaper articles, a streaming video, survivor accounts, maps and recom- National Office: mendations for further research. 16 Hurd Road Brookline, MA 02445 Facing History and Ourselves (www.facinghistory.org) Phone: 617-232-1595 Fax: 617-232-0281 FHAO not only provides wonderful print resources on the Armenian genocide but also offers online lesson plans. Lessons and Readings on the Armenian Genocide section was developed in collaboration with Teaching Tolerance Magazine. (The The Choices Program (www.choices.edu) fall, 2002 issue of Teaching Tolerance Magazine includes a feature article on the The Choices Program, a civics- Armenian genocide, titled “The World Was Silent.”) based education program based at Brown University, created the The Legacy Project (www.legacy-project.org) curriculum “Confronting Genocide: The Legacy Project provides a collection of visual and literary art created by the Never Again?” descendants of those who survived some of the most horrific atrocities of the twen- The curriculum provides a five-day lesson plan on five geno- tieth century including the Armenian genocide, the Holocaust, and the Cambodian cides of the twentieth century. The genocide. lessons trace the international response to each genocide includ- The Armenian National Institute (ANI) (www.armenian-genocide.org) ing the Armenian genocide. ANI is a small research institute dedicated to studying the Armenian genocide. ANI provides a website with historically correct and well organized information. The site [email protected] Box 1948, Brown University also includes a section for educators the author updated in 2004. Providence, RI 02912 401 863.3155 The Forgotten (http://www.theforgotten.org) fax 863.1247 This award winning website is designed with students in mind. The information on the site is brief and dynamically displayed. S o c i a l E d u c at i o n 336 doctors, businessmen, and artists were the orders of Turkey’s new leader, rounded up and killed. Once these lead- Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk), the remain- NCSS Publications ers of the Armenian communities were ing Armenians in western Cilicia (the Social Studies and the World: killed, the genocide plan was put into region of the Ottoman Empire originally Teaching Global Perspectives motion throughout the empire. Many inhabited by Armenians) were expelled, Merry M. Merryfield and Armenian men were quickly executed. as were the Greek and Assyrian popula- Angene Wilson Using new technologies, such as the tele- tions. graph and the railroads, CUP leaders By 1923, a 3,000-year-old civiliza- NCSS, Bulletin No. 103, 141 pp., sent orders to province leaders to gather tion virtually ceased to exist. One and 2005 women and children and either load a half million Armenians, more than them onto trains headed for the Syrian half of the Armenian population on Desert or lead them on forced marches its historic homeland, were dead, and into the desert. Embarking with little the Armenian community and personal food and few supplies, women and chil- properties were lost, appropriated by the dren had little hope of survival. government, stolen by others or delib- On these journeys, Turkish gen- erately destroyed. Only a small number darmes regularly subjected Armenian of Armenians remained in the former women to sexual violence. Special mili- Ottoman capital of Constantinople. tias were created by the government to carry out the deportations and murders; The Denial and Turkish and Kurdish convicts who The term “genocide” was not created had been set free from jails brutalized until 1944. It was devised by a legal and plundered the deportation caravans scholar, Raphael Lemkin, who had “More than in any previous gen- winding through the severe terrain. Some been strongly influenced by his study of eration, today’s students will be women and children were abducted and the Armenian case and the persecution actors on a global stage,” write sold, or children were raised as Turks by of Jews under Nazi rule. In 1946, the Merry M. Merryfield and Angene Turkish families. Some Armenians were United Nations adopted the language Wilson. In this book, they recom- mend ways of developing the rescued by Bedouins and other Arabs and two years later the Convention on skills needed by students to learn who sympathized with the Armenian the Prevention and Punishment of the about and understand world cul- situation. Sympathetic Turkish families Crime of Genocide was passed. tures, world history, global issues also risked their own lives to help their Despite the affirmation of the and current events, as well as Armenian neighbors escape. Armenian genocide by the overwhelm- the links between the U.S. and the rest of the world. Useful for Within months, the Euphrates ing majority of historians, academic educators at all levels, the book and Tigris rivers became clotted with institutions on Holocaust and Genocide is especially valuable for class- the bodies of Armenian women and Studies, and governments around the room teachers. Its 49 lesson plans children, polluting the water supply world, the Turkish government still cover the range of social studies for those who had not yet perished. actively denies the Armenian genocide. subjects, showing how global Dysentery and other diseases were ram- Among a series of actions enacted to perspectives can enhance the curriculum. The book also rec- pant and those who managed to survive counter Armenian genocide recognition ommends and presents literature the march found themselves in concen- and education, the government even and other resources likely to stim- tration camps. passed a law in 2004 known as Article ulate students to make their own By 1918, most of the Armenians 305 which makes it a criminal offense, voyages of intellectual discovery. who had resided in this historic land punishable by up to 10 years in prison, This is a vital resource for educa- tors seeking to incorporate world were dead or in the Diaspora. Under to discuss the Armenian genocide. awareness into the social studies Most of the survivors of the curriculum. Armenian genocide have now passed Item #050103 Price$22.00/ away. Their families still continue to NCSS Members $14.00 demand recognition for the suffering Sara Cohan is the education director of The Geno- inflicted upon their beloved ancestors cide Education Project, a nonprofit organization that Order toll free more than 90 years ago. assists educators in teaching about human rights and 1-800-683-0812 genocide, particularly the Armenian genocide. She will present a paper on this subject at the NCSS Annual Notes Or order via Conference in Kansas City, MO, in November. 1. Henry Morgenthau, Ambassador Morgenthau’s fax 24 hrs: 301-843-0159 Story (London: Taderon Press, 2000), 213. O cto b e r 2 0 05 337