The Armenian Genocide of 1915
The Forgotten Genocide
The BIG question: What were the reasons for the massacres and the persecutions?
There were many little reasons for the massacres and the persecutions but there was main main reason for the massacres and the persecutions. One of the main reasons for the massacres and the persecutions is that "Turkey wanted to form a "pure" Turkish Turkey and the only way to do that was to expand eastward into the Christian non-Turkish Armenia and make up for all of the land Turkey had lost" ("Frequently Asked Questions- Background"). "The Young Turks wanted the Armenians to adopt Turkish ways and convert from Armenian to Turkish" ("Frequently Asked Questions- Background"). This forced transformation was "achieved through forced assimilation and forced conversion of minority ethnic groups in the country" ("Frequently Asked Questions- Background"). "When people didn't yield results quickly enough lead to the massacres and the persecutions" ("Frequently Asked Questions- Background").
Execution of Armenians
This execution is taking place in the city of Constantinople in June of 1915 ("Photos of Armenian Genocide").
Massacred Armenians
In this photo these Armenians were burnt alive in Sheykhalan by Turkish soldiers in 1915 ("Photos of Armenian Genocide").
Starved!!
This is a photo of a starved Armenian woman and her starved son as well in the Syrian Desert in 1916 ("Photos of Armenian Genocide").
When did the Armenian Genocide start and end?
"The Armenian Genocide started on April 24, 2015 and ended sometime in 1920" (Kifner).
What was the total number of people that had died?
"The total number of people that had died in the Armenian Genocide was 1.5 million people out of a population of 2 million that lived in the Ottoman Empire" (Kifner).
Why are people mad at President Obama?
Many people get mad at President Obama everyday but on April 24, 2015 people were furious at President Obama. "People were mad at President Obama because during his speech on the 100th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide he did not use the word genocide" (Bierman). This caused anger and rage within the Armenian race. President Obama's White House Officals released a statement saying "Mr. Obama did not use the word genocide because he does not want to anger the country of Turkey one of the United States's NATO allies in the Middle East" (Bierman). "During his first run for Presidency he criticized George W. Bush for not using the word genocide to describe the killings. Obama supported the use of that word" (Bierman).
What was the outcome of the Armenian Genocide?
There were many outcomes to the Armenian Genocide. There was some good outcomes for Turkey but other than that the rest of the outcomes are bad. The total death toll was about 1.5 million Armenians. "The 1.5 million Armenians that had died in the Ottoman Empire were either deported, killed or they were disappeared from the areas that they had lived on for a long time" (Kifner). Also, "in 1923 for the first time in about 2,800 years the Armenians no longer lived on 85% of their native land" (Kifner). I also heard from my dad that people changed their names to Turkish and Kurdish names because they didn't want to escape death. The last thing is that "after the genocide in 1923 it left a virtually pure Turkish Turkey" (Kifner).