4-12-16

Peter Piotrowski
Guth
WLC 5

The Armenian Genocide

In early 1900s The Ottoman Empire caused the deaths of more that three
quarters of the Armenian people this is known as the Armenian Genocide . Its
considered to be the first Genocide to ever occur. Some people say that the Armenian
Genocide inspired Hitler for what comes later during World War II to people with Jewish
faith. The armenian people were forced to leave their homeland of eastern Anatolia to
the Syrian Desert. They were forced out of their homes and had to leave all their
belongings. Today, The Turkish Government has gone to great lengths to fight foreign
governments adoption of resolutions acknowledging the genocide(cooper akcam 1).
The Turkish people dont want people to acknowledge the genocide as a genocide.
The Ottoman Empire was the cause of more than 70% of the deaths of
Armenian people (lessons of armenian genocide 1). Renowned English historian Arnold
Toynbee suggests roughly 600,000 murders. Political scientist Robert Melson argues
that the actual murder count was around 1 million. By the mid 19th century, most of
western Armenia remained under ottoman rule. The worst of the slaughters occurred
between 1894 and 1896, between 100,000 and 300,000 Armenians were murdered.
The slaughters continued into the 20th century. During World War I The Turks
European ally,Germany, looked the other way-- or even actively approved--as the CPU

slaughtered Armenians(lessons of Armenian genocide 5). Also, Turkish authorities

arrested thousands of leading Armenian intellectuals and public figures in April 1915,
murdering most of them(lessons of the armenian genocide 6). The Armenian people
were treated like objects and not people.
Some people say that the Armenian Genocide inspired Hitler for what
come later during World War II. There is evidence that the massacre of the Ottoman
Armenians help persuade the Naiz that national minorities posted a threat to the
Empire's domination by an ethnic group such as the Germans or the Turks(armenian
genocide inspire hitler 1). The Turks thought the Armenian people were causing a
threat to their domination just because they were minorities. The Armenian people
caused no threat toward the Ottoman Empire. Hitler often referred to the extermination
of the Armenians in his speeches. Hitler said, Who still talks nowadays of the
extermination of the Armenians.(armenian genocide inspiration hitler 1). Hitler was
trying to imply that no one recognized the Armenian genocide and no one will recognize
what will come later for what happens to the jews. In a 1931 interview Hitler told a
German newspaper editor in deciding the future of Germany, one should remember the
extermination of the Armenians (armenian genocide inspiration hitler 3). Hitler clearly
knew what the Armenian Genocide was when he was gathering the jews to put in work
camps. Some of Hitlers ideas for the camps during WWII came from what happened
during the Armenian genocide. Armenian-American historian Vahkan Dadrian, argued
that for what happened to the Armenian people had a direct influence on Hitler that may
have included introducing him to the example of how the Ottoman Armenians were
deported from their villages, worked to death,starved,and frozen to death during

exposure to harsh winter conditions.(armenian genocide inspiration hitler 3) Many

people say hitler got all his ideas from the Armenian Genocide.
One hundred years later the Armenian Genocide is still a very tragic thing
to talk about. Turkey still refuses to refer what happened to the Armenian people as a
Genocide. Both s Armenia and Turkey had agreed to move towards establishing
diplomatic recognition of one another.Unfortunately, those efforts to normalize relations
between the two countries have since failed because of the continued non-resolution of
the Nagorno-Karabakh War.(dodging history 1). Still one hundred years later the two
countries havent made any closure since the Genocide occurred. On June 20, 2015
Turkeys government strongly commanded Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel for a
statement in which he became the latest in the past few months to publicly recognize
the 1915 mass killings of Armenians as a genocide(dodging history 2) Turkeys
government doesn't want people to recognize what happened to the Armenian people
as a genocide because they are ashamed of what they did.
What happened in 1915 was a tragedy and should be recognized all over
the world and should never be forgotten. The Armenian people were worked to
death,starved,and left outside to die. What happened to the Armenian people should
never happen to anyone else again? Still to this day, Turkey doesnt refer to what
happened as a genocide and refuses to let other countries refer to it as one either.
Turkey has made progress trying to consult with Armenia and fix the situation, but it has
a long ways go to.