Armenian Genocide in Perspective

This week, Armenians all over the world remember the Armenian Genocide, a genocide perpetrated upon the Armenian people in their own land by the Young Turks and the Ottoman Government between 1915 and 1923.

Thinking about this, Marash Girl remembers her father telling of his years in Marash (early 20th century), when whole families would be hanged in the marketplace of Marash -- their crime? they were the families of the Armenian folks in the United States who were speaking of the ongoing slaughter, looking for the support of the United States government to stop the mass murder of the Armenian population in the Ottoman Empire, mass murder not yet labeled genocide by the outside world.

Hopefully this is not happening today in Turkey as we Armenians in the United States grieve the genocide, the slaughter of 1.5 million Armenians, the removal of children from Armenian families, the forced conversions, the torture, the rape, the suffering brought upon our people by the Young Turks and the Ottoman Empire early in the 20th Century, a genocide which both the governments of Turkey and the United States have yet to recognize officially. (See tomorrow's post on the April 24, 2012 statement by Barack Obama.)