111th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide

This year, the world commemorates the 111th anniversary of the beginning of the Armenian Genocide from 1915 to 1918. Its beginning is traditionally associated with the date April 24th.

The Armenian Genocide was the first recorded genocide in modern human history and claimed a total of 1.5 million victims. How and why did it happen?

The Armenian Genocide took place against the backdrop of World War I. On November 2, 1914, the Ottoman Empire entered World War I (on the side of the Central Powers). Shortly thereafter, in January 1915, the Turkish Third Army clashed with Russian troops on Armenian territory and was defeated at the Battle of Sharikamish. The Armenians were unjustly accused of being the cause of the Turkish defeat. The ruling party Unity and Progress (the "Young Turks") began preparing a genocide unlike any Armenia or other neighboring countries had ever seen. Military units, so-called platoons, were formed from former criminals. From May 1915, these commandos deported Armenians from the eastern provinces to the concentration camp in Aleppo. Most of them did not survive this transport, given the drastic conditions that prevailed (hunger, thirst, disease). Those who had a better chance of survival (young men) were taken away and executed. Prominent people were executed before the deportation order was issued. Those who survived the transfer to Aleppo were sent in the next stage across the Syrian desert to the Deir ez-Zor camp in Mesopotamia and, if they survived, were driven into the desert, where they had no chance, or burned alive. A Christian memorial was built in Deir ez-Zor to commemorate the victims of the genocide.

Only a small part managed to escape the extermination. They were mainly the inhabitants of the province of Van and those who fled during the transport to Istanbul. They found refuge in Egypt, Syria or Cyprus. Already at the time of the organization of the killings, many prominent public figures, diplomats (American ambassador to Turkey Henry Morgenthau)[4] and clergy (German priest Johannes Lepsius)[5) tried to point out the events that were taking place in the Ottoman Empire at that time, but without success.

The inability to seek justice at the international level for the perpetrators of the massacres of the Armenian and, by extension, Christian population has led to the emergence of various groups calling for justice within the framework of Armenian possibilities. Based on these circumstances, after the end of World War I, an Armenian plan was created to carry out a retaliatory action, which was given the code name "Nemesis". As part of Operation Nemesis, the main instigators of the genocide were gradually eliminated for their part through a series of assassinations.

Turkey, Islamic countries and Armenia have fundamentally different views on the events. Armenian officials insist that it was a genocide, estimating the number of people killed at 1 to 2 million and demanding compensation from Turkey and lessons learned from the event for the future. Turkish officials perceive the alleged genocide as the deaths of several hundred thousand people of both nationalities as a result of the confusion caused by the need to quickly resolve the issue of Armenian collaboration.

In April 2015, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary, the victims of the genocide were declared saints by the Armenian Apostolic Church and are considered martyrs for their people and faith throughout the Orthodox world.

WT.24