ARMENIAN MARTYRS’ DAY
Jawa Report, TX
April 24 2007
April 24th is the day we remember the victims of a forgotten genocide.
On April 24, 1915, turkish soldiers arrested 250 Armenians in the
first of hundreds of raids designed to wipe out the Armenian population
of turkey.
Armenian villages were rousted one by one, and the men ordered to
leave at once and serve the turkish army. Boys as young as 9 or 10,
and men as old as 70. Many never made that far, as turkish soldiers
often took these "new recruits" not to the army camps but out to
the woods, where they were summarily executed. The women and girls,
thus undefended, were easy prey for the turkish soldiers.
Those who remained behind were forced from their lands, homes, and
belongings, and force-marched to "settlement camps" in remote areas.
Many died along the way from exhaustion, starvation, and exposure
to the elements. According to French scholars Joel Kotek and Pierre
Rigoulot, there were up to 25 such camps.
But the Armenian’s plight was nowhere near as unknown, even in that
day, as it is now. Despite the lack of internet, video cameras,
and TV screens, in 1915 the plight of the Armenians was a worldwide
topic of discussion. US Consular officials, as early as July of 1915,
were concerned enough to beg the US government to step in.
No less than Winston Churchill, then Britain’s First Lord of the
Admiralty noted, "the clearance of race from Asia Minor was about as
complete as such an act could be…There is no reason to doubt that
that this crime was planned and executed for political reasons. The
opportunity presented itself for clearing Turkish soil of a Christian
race opposed to all Turkish ambitions." And he was then in the midst
of the "war to end all wars" against Germany!
During 1915, the New York Times paper published 145 articles about
the mass murder of the Armenian people, describing the massacre as
"systematic, "authorized" and "organized by the government." In 1918,
Theodore Roosevelt called it "the greatest crime of the war."
But today, no one even knows it happened
Denialists of all stripes, from US and EU officials who find turkey’s
past "annoying", to the turks themselves who believe such raids were
justified to "pick up deserters" (yeah, little old men, deserters.
right.) have managed to decrease the general public’s awareness
of these atrocities. But they happened. There was no Photoshop in
1915. All of the horrible pictures you see here are real.
Despite missions from the US and UK, Austria, France, and others,
the plight of the Armenians faded off the radar screen as war in
Europe intensified.
Looks a lot like Germany around 1942, huh?
In fact, Adolf Hitler said of the Armenian Genocide: "Who, after all,
speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?"as his justification
for the atrocities carried out on the Jews and others during the
Nazi’s reign over Germany.
We did not forget. We do not forget. We will always remember.
My previous remembrances here. This stays on top all day.
For photos:
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
