I am referring to the Armenian Genocide which took place from 1914-1923. Many historians referred to this as the first modern genocide. Still til this day Turkey deny’s it (A member of NATO) and puts political pressure on other nations not to recognize it. As of this writing only 28 nations recognize the genocide the vast majority being European countries.
The official death estimates go from 1-1.5 million and the preferred method of killings were mass burning of people alive, mostly women and children in barn stalls, drowning people in the black sea, forced death marches and firing squads.
It’s interesting that most Americans became aware of the genocide only after a tweet by Kim Kardashian talking about the genocide. Most Americans can tell you a bit about the holocaust some are more thoroughly studied and can tell you the complete history, but other genocides don’t seem to be that important or forgotten altogether. I find it odd that both republicans and democrats can unilaterally condemn the atrocities of the nazi’s yet, few know about the Genocide under Stalin, Mao, and Pol-Pot, and sadly fewer know about the Armenian Genocide.
This goes with my other piece in this forum, “When can the left go to far”? Another bit of trivia Turkey a member of NATO also illegally occupies the island of Cyprus another NATO member.
On a side note it’s peculiar there is a leftwing news agency today called the “The Young Turks” who during the Armenian Genocide were basically the killing squads. It could be in no reference to the Armenian genocide, but they could have picked a different name. I am sure if Fox news was called the “Einzengruppen News Network” there would probably be more people curious about their news organization name.
Your thoughts on why this genocide gets little attention and more importantly on why a NATO member denies it ever happened even though it obviously did, and gets little flak for it. No apologies, no guilt, just denial and the rest of the world goes along with it.
I’m an American of Greek decent. All of my grandparents came to America from Greece and both of my parents lived in Greece through their lives. I have no love for Turks and what they put Greece through. I also have no idea why the Turkish purge of the Arminans has gone unrecognized. I for one believe Turkey has no place in NATO. As a Greek I’m biased, but I’m not friendly to Turks.
My extended family (Godparents) had brothers and sisters in Smyrna ( today’s Izmir) in 1922 that were killed in that merciless mass murder. We are Greek…And along with the Armenians, were killed brutally in those days. My grandfather lived on Lesbos… just a few miles off the coast but a little further north of Izmir and was part of that enslavement by the Ottomans until about 1912 when they were liberated. He then came to America as a 14 year old.
I sat up on a hill above Izmir about 6 years ago and could still hear the screaming and terror. The souls there still cry out. I’m not sure what can give them rest. Certainly not just recognition that they were killed.
I have made peace with the Turks. It was a crazy time then.
It is not a forgotten genocide. There are activists who try to get the Turkish government to fess up. Erdoğan might someday. But really… it was a different government back then…Even Ataturk played a different role as a subordinate to the Ottoman sultans until he overthrew them in 1922.
Maybe one of the reasons why you dont hear more about Smyrna, for example, is that European ships sat in the harbor of Smyrna and did nothing except help those who managed to get to them in little boats or swimming.
From the wikipedia article on the burning of Smyrna…
Though the Armenian and Greek inhabitants viewed their [Turkish troops] entry with trepidation, they reasoned that the presence of the Allied fleet would discourage any violence against the Christian community. On the morning of September 9, no fewer than twenty-one Allied warships lay at anchor in Smyrna’s harbor, including the British flagship battleship HMS Iron Duke and her sister King George V, along with their escort of cruisers and destroyers under the command of Admiral Osmond Brock, the American destroyers USS Litchfield, Simpson, and Lawrence (later joined by the Edsall), three French cruisers and two destroyers under the command of Admiral Dumesnil, and an Italian cruiser and destroyer.[41][42] As a precaution, sailors and marines from the Allied fleet were landed ashore to guard their respective diplomatic compounds and institutions with strict orders of maintaining neutrality in the event that violence would break out between the Turks and the Christians.[43]
If we target the Turks we should include the Kurdish emirs who liquidated Armenians and Assyrians to the degree that they were stripped of power soon afterward.
In German Southwest Africa. Before the First World War. German colonial forces and their collaborators brutally massacred the Herero and Nama natives. 1904 to 1908.
I’m in the dark as to why there is full knowledge of the deaths of the 6,000,000 during the Holocaust, but little effort is made to teach of the Romany, physically & mentally handicapped & dissidents who lost their lives from ‘33 to ‘45.
Yes, I agree genocides like those under Mai & Pol Pot should not be obscured. A lady near my former hometown of Tampa, Soph “Sophie” Stagg survived the killing fields of Cambodia to marry & raise a family in Texas & Florida & found the Southeast Asian Children’s Relief Foundation to help families still in that nation.
Pol Pot even destroyed mass transit in that country, & those still there have had to devise some innovative ways to get around. History is not a discipline that can be objectively taught if certain events or peoples are obscured.
They should never have been allowed in NATO. Their refusal to allow Powel to use bases in Turkey to stage an attack on Iraq from the north allowed the Iraqi army to disperse and war materials to go to Syria both of which led directly to the insurgence that arose following Bush’s “Mission Accomplished” speech.
Turkey’s admission to NATO in 1952 (along with Greece) was a direct result of Cold War maneuvering.
They should never have been admitted to NATO, nor should NATO have expanded into the former Warsaw Pact countries, other than the former territory of East Germany.
What people don’t realize is that the Khmer Rouge remains in power to this day. The current strongman, Hun Sen, was member of the Khmer Rouge and participated in the genocide. He was purged by Pol Pot in 1977, but escaped to Vietnam. When Vietnam invaded Cambodia and ended the genocide, Hun Sen returned with them and eventually gained control of the Khmer Rouge and came to power. With the exception of one brief period in the early 1990’s, he remains in power and the Khmer Rouge continues to rule Cambodia.
The massive genocide from 1975 to 1979 has given way to a regime that very efficiently murders or otherwise neutralizes any perceived opposition. Hun Sen’s personal body guard rivals the strength of the Cambodian Army, making any coup against him impossible.
The Cambodian Genocide is unique in the history of genocides. It was literally blind rage unleashed, causing a people to literally destroy themselves.
I have been to Cambodia several times. It is a very interesting trip if you are able to make it.
The Cambodian Genocide is another one few people outside of history buffs know about. I remember when I was in college I asked my history professor if he enjoyed the history channel and I remember him calling it “The Hitler Channel” because the majority of what was shown was about WW2.
