It Is Difficult To Identify Armenian Genocide And Syrian Crisis: "Th

IT IS DIFFICULT TO IDENTIFY ARMENIAN GENOCIDE AND SYRIAN CRISIS: “THE ATLANTIC’S” UNIQUE PARALLELS

21:49, 30 August, 2013

YEREVAN, AUGUST 30, ARMENPRESS: One hundred years ago, when the United
States faced a choice to become involved with a human rights crisis
in territory now divided into Syria, Turkey, and Armenia, we chose to
stay out. After ethnic Armenians were massacred by the Ottomans during
World War I, President Wilson urged Congress to help the remaining
population establish a country of their own. But, claiming that the
American public wouldn’t support such an intervention, Congress said
no. Such historic point remembers American journalist of “The Atlantic”
Emma Green when talking about discussions on American intervention
in Syria. “Armenpress” reports that Green also reveals in her article:

“On the night of April 24, 1915, Ottoman soldiers arrested more than
200 ethnic Armenian leaders and intellectuals in the empire’s capital
city, Constantinople. The men were later executed at a prison in
inner Anatolia, which is part of modern-day Turkey. Over the next
seven years, an estimated 1.5 million Armenians died during death
marches through the Syrian desert, mass executions, and epidemics at
the open-air camps where they were held, many of which were located
in what is now called Syria.

Americans in the region raised money to feed, clothe, and house
Armenian refugees, including orphans whose parents were killed in the
massacres. One organization, the American Committee for Armenian and
Syrian Relief, raised millions of dollars through rallies and church
collections. One fundraising campaign called for $5 million “to relieve
1,000 destitute, exiled, and starving Armenians scattered broadcast
over Turkey, Persia, Syria, and Palestine,” the New York Times reported
in 1916. In 1919, the organization was incorporated by Congress into
Near East Relief, and today, it is known as the Near East Foundation.

The imagery used in these fundraising campaigns is chilling. A 1917
campaign for $30 million paired illustrations of women and children
with pleas for help. On one poster, Americans were reminded to think
of “The Child at Your Door: 400,000 Orphans Starving and No State
Aid Available.”

President Wilson strongly supported the organization’s efforts to
provide relief to the region’s refugees, and at the conclusion of
World War I, he argued on behalf of American intervention in the
Armenian case.

“Have you thought of the sufferings of Armenia?” he said in June
of 1919. “You poured your money out to help succor the Armenians
after they suffered; now set your strength so that they shall never
suffer again.”

Wilson’s solution was an American mandate for Armenian, meaning
the United States would be responsible for helping the new country
establish a government and deal with the repatriation of hundreds
of thousands of refugees. According to a New York Times report, the
U.S. would have also had to provide two to four military regiments
“to exert a steadying effect upon the native population,” as well
as guidance for creating infrastructure for transportation and
sanitation. This mandate failed to get support in Congress, however,
and the United States ultimately decided not to participate at all
in partitioning the former Ottoman Empire into new countries.

Of course, it is impossible to equate a century-old genocide that was
tied up in an international war with today’s situation in Syria. It’s
also worth noting how national borders have changed throughout the
complicated history that followed; modern-day Armenia lies to the
north and east of Syria, and the two countries are separated by Iraq,
Iran, and Turkey.

Still, this echo of the past is uncanny — and very, very sad”.

Courtesy: “The Atlantic”, Emma Green

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress