The Armenian Genocide
Armenian Genocide
Andy Leeds
Ms. Bullis
English 1
April 24 Armenians are a Christian nation, and when they were a country, they were the first to proclaim Christianity as the state religion. The Ottoman Empire took control of Armenia during the 15th century, and they were mistreated for quite a while due to religious differences (Christians vs. Muslims), and this mistreatment culminated and peaked during 1915-1918. During World War I, the Ottoman Empire took the opportunity among a world of chaos to exterminate its Christian population, after years of hate propaganda sponsored by the government, they struck, and the Ottoman Empire’s successor denies it to this day. The Ottoman Empire divided its people decades before the genocide; the Ottomans classified its population into two groups, the Muslim Ottomans and the Christian Armenians. “And because the Russians did have Armenians serving as soldiers, the Ottoman Government was concerned that Ottoman Armenians might commit traitorous acts.” (Cohan). By giving a supposedly legitimate reason for the genocide that was to come, it gave the individual killers a reason to do it. By legitimizing the genocide, the killers could commit their crimes without feeling guilty. Each murderer was massacring not for the sake of it, but to defend their families, who they believed were in danger. By dividing the people through classification, they successfully sowed the seeds of hatred, preparing the people for genocide. By making the Armenians seem less human to the general population, and by dehumanizing the Armenians, it made it seem as if they were nothing of consequence, or importance. “For instance, when it severely citied the Armenians in the caucus for attacking, looting, and destroying Muslim villages.”(Unal) This made the Armenians the enemy, and by making them the enemy, the Ottomans also stripped from them some of their humanity. When the Armenians lost the ability to be seen as humans, they lost their rights, and also
Andy Leeds
Ms. Bullis
English 1
April 24 Armenians are a Christian nation, and when they were a country, they were the first to proclaim Christianity as the state religion. The Ottoman Empire took control of Armenia during the 15th century, and they were mistreated for quite a while due to religious differences (Christians vs. Muslims), and this mistreatment culminated and peaked during 1915-1918. During World War I, the Ottoman Empire took the opportunity among a world of chaos to exterminate its Christian population, after years of hate propaganda sponsored by the government, they struck, and the Ottoman Empire’s successor denies it to this day. The Ottoman Empire divided its people decades before the genocide; the Ottomans classified its population into two groups, the Muslim Ottomans and the Christian Armenians. “And because the Russians did have Armenians serving as soldiers, the Ottoman Government was concerned that Ottoman Armenians might commit traitorous acts.” (Cohan). By giving a supposedly legitimate reason for the genocide that was to come, it gave the individual killers a reason to do it. By legitimizing the genocide, the killers could commit their crimes without feeling guilty. Each murderer was massacring not for the sake of it, but to defend their families, who they believed were in danger. By dividing the people through classification, they successfully sowed the seeds of hatred, preparing the people for genocide. By making the Armenians seem less human to the general population, and by dehumanizing the Armenians, it made it seem as if they were nothing of consequence, or importance. “For instance, when it severely citied the Armenians in the caucus for attacking, looting, and destroying Muslim villages.”(Unal) This made the Armenians the enemy, and by making them the enemy, the Ottomans also stripped from them some of their humanity. When the Armenians lost the ability to be seen as humans, they lost their rights, and also