The Armenian Genocide

The massacre started in spring 1915, which refers to the physical annihilation of Armenian Christian people. It was a campaign of deportation and mass killing of the Armenians. This genocide was called the first genocide of the twentieth century. 

The Young Turk government went on a mass killing with Christian Armenians as the subjects during World War 1. They were looking for revenge on the Christians. For more than 3,00 years the Armenians were living in the Caucasus region independently. At the beginning of the 4th century, they even made Christianity their official religion, but during the 15th century, Armenia was taken over by the Ottoman Empire, which was Muslim. Starting in 1915, also with all the chaos from World War 1, the Turks radically went against the Armenians. The Armenian were driven out of their homes and cities. It was mostly about religion and land. During the Ottoman period, Turks took over most of the Armenians’ land. They forced them to convert to Islam and would arrest anyone who refused 

It originally started in 1915. At first, it started with 215 arrests of Armenians but led to families being separated, killed, torn away from their houses, etc. Before the chaos Young Turks seemed to have the Armenians best in their goals, but that fact was later proven wrong when the Turks showed how they wanted to “Turkify” the empire m. The Armenians were also starved to death. Children were taken from their families. The Turk’s main goal was to get rid of all the Armenians who could possibly achieve independence in the eastern empires. Armenians were also deported and separated. Christians also had to pay higher taxes than Muslims. They had few political and legal rights, which led to most Armenians being poor. 

Even though this war happened over 100 years ago, the phrase “ 1915 never again” started become popular at protests and online, after the conflict started rumbling at the borders of Armenia-Azerbaijan. In 2021 Azerbaijan soldiers crossed about 16 square miles in Armenia. The Azerbaijan president declared that the Armenian capital was “their history.” Many people went on protest about not letting 1915 happen again.

Today we remember the war in many ways. On April 24 many people visit the Armenian Genocide Martyrs Memorial Monument. It was opened on April 21, 1968, and is still open today. The whole memorial is dedicated to all the victims of the Genocide. The monument is 75 years old and located in Montebello California.