Armenian Genocide
What Does Genocide Mean? The era of mass
murder might be given as a name for the
20th century. Never in the
history of the world have so many millions of people
been deliberately killed
since 1900. These millions weren't all because of war.
They were victims
of genocide: the deliberate killings of racial, religious,
ethnic, or
political groups. The word genocide is from the Greek genos,
meaning"race",
or "tribe", and the Latin cide, meaning
"killing." The First Significant
Genocide... The Armenian Genocide was
directed against the residents of Asia
Minor by the Turkish government. This
deliberate slaughter began on April 24,
1915, under the cover of World War 1.
The number killed are uncertain.
The lowest is 800,000 and the highest more than
2 million. First the
Armenians in the army were disarmed, placed into
battalions, and then killed.
Then the Armenian political leaders were rounded up
on April 24, 1915, and
then killed. Finally, the remaining Armenians were called
from thier homes,
told they would be relocated, and then marched off to
concentration camps in
the desert between Jerablus and Deir ez-Zor where they
would starve and
thirst to death in the sun. On March, often they would be
denied food and
water, and many were brutalized and killed by their guards. The
authorities
in Trezbizond, on the Black Sea coast, loaded Armenians on barges
and sank
them out at sea. The Turkish government has denied that this ever
happened,
but this event has been carefully recorded by others. My Comment: As I
said
before the "era of mass murder" should be given the name of the
20th
century. This century was when most people for either their race, ethnic,
or
religion had been killed purposely. From the Jewish Holocaust to the
all
other genocides. Yet, there is also a reason why this happened. Maybe it
was
because it was a lesson to show us how easily we are capable of doing
such
atrocities as this. These past genocides also show us how important it
is to be
at peace with one another. Without this peace look what it all
caused.