April 24, 2015...it is one hundred years since the Armenian Genocide. (The Armenians call it Medz Yeghern, the Great Crime".) I wonder how many AMERICANS know about it? If you click on that link I gave you, you can read about it. I really believe that we need to recognize and come to terms with what has happened in history, no matter how brutal the facts may be. I warn you, some of the images are hard to view. They are not sure how many were killed, I have seen reports of over one million, many of them children.
Henry Morgenthau, Sr. was the American ambassador to the Ottoman Empire during that time and due to his writings and speeches about the Armenian genocide was able to be the driving force behind the Near East Society which raised over $100 million in aid ($1 billion in today's money).
And by the way, I only put capitals on AMERICANS up there because for me, the word "Americans" and "Armenians" look so much alike but hey, that is just me!
I'll be honest with you the first time I saw the word "Armenian" I thought someone had misspelled American. That said I do know about the Armenian genocide and I do think it's quite a shame it's not fully recognised. I get where the Turkish are coming from with their arguments but we need to stop arguing and just say "Okay; this was a tragedy and a lot of people died. We'd like to acknowledge that rather than keep arguing about semantics."
ReplyDeleteI am embarrassed to tell you how often I misread names of places and people, I am glad that I am not the only one!
DeleteI really don't understand why this is such a touchy subject. I have nothing at all against Turkey but at the same time, I think we should remember this.
Dear Kay, this is a big issue these days in Germany. Our President, Mr. Gauck, has spoken last night of genocide, in spite of knowing full well that Turkey's head of state, Mr. Erdogan, along with the majority of Turkish establishment, denies that it was genocide. This is something of a damper on official German-Turkish relations, but I think it is well worth risking it for the sake of the truth to be told and acknowledged - as you say, no matter how brutal it is.
ReplyDeleteWe have a considerable Armenican community in Germany, and in my hometown, too. Some businesses here are owned and run by Armenians. From what is visible on the surface, there isn't any trouble between them and the much larger community of Turkish immigrants in my town, but of course there could be undercurrents I am simply not aware of, since I don't know personally any of the Armenians (but live next door to several Turkish families).
It's all very sad, and very complicated, as such issues usually are. Once more, it makes me nearly despair of humankind. Why can't people just get along and let each other live, and follow the religion/way of life they feel is right for them?
Well, I do believe in plain speaking, as you know. The Pope also called it genocide whereas the President of the United States refused to do so. Politics! I have so little time for it. I could never be a politician, never!
DeleteYou might remember that our son's girlfriend is from Armenia, and she still has many relatives who live there. (I remember very well your Turkish neighbors, I think they are the ones who bring you that plate of food that looks so delicious).
We are all people, all of us. I despair of the hatred sometimes, really I do.
One of the best books about this is The Road From Home: A True Story of Courage, Survival and Hope by David Kherdian (Author). I read it when it came out a long time ago was just blown away. David Kherdian's mother was part of this and he told her story amazingly well.
ReplyDeleteKristi,
DeleteTHANK YOU! I am so happy that you told me about this book! I think I would like to read it, that is just kind of reading.
BTW, Kherdian and his wife Nonny Hogrogian were very interesting people, both wrote and Nonny was an illustrator as well who won several Caldecott medals. I know you like to read and I think this is very like the sort of books you like. It is classified as young adult but that does not take away from its excellence.
ReplyDeleteYes! You are exactly right! And I see that Kherdian is also a poet. Thank you again.
DeleteI know Turkey refuses to call it a genocide. But many countries call it precisely that. I know Canada does. And didn't the Pope also just recently refer to the Armenian genocide, which upset Turkey?
ReplyDeleteYes, some would call the Pope outspoken but I just call it plain speaking myself. Good for Canada, I say.
DeleteWe lived in Turkey for 2 years and I've done a lot of reading about the Turks and the Armenians. There's a lot more to the story than that the Turks killed Armenian.
ReplyDeleteLife is always more complex, everything is just not sound bites on a TV screen. Whatever happened, with that many killed, it deserves to be recognized and remembered.
DeleteAh the difficulty of politics.
ReplyDeleteIf an enemy kills it is murder, if an ally kills you avoid the issue!
At least one American got the truth out.
You might guess that I don't care for politics very much.
DeleteActually this has been in the news quite a bit lately. All people who commit or try to commit genocide are despicable. Unfortunately it keeps happening.
ReplyDeleteIt has been in the news here because the Pope called it genocide and the President refused to do so. Also, there has been some documentaries lately about it. Both of them called it Armenian genocide with no hesitation.
DeleteWhy do people have to be so cruel?
ReplyDeleteWhy indeed.
DeleteThere is probably much more too it, but that does not excuse the end result, that innocent lives were lost.
ReplyDeleteThere is a professor at Northwestern University who denied the Holocaust ever happened. (He might still be teaching, I don't know.)Somehow, the controversy over this reminds me of that.
DeleteNot something you hear or read a lot about although many countries in Europe seem to have adopted a similar superior "philosophy" for getting rid of "unwanted people" around that same time. Aborigines in Australia and elsewhere having their children forcibly removed by the government to attempt to breed them white, the Congo deliberate segregation policy down race or tribal lines etc,
ReplyDeleteJust reading The Secret Life of J. Edgar Hoover at the moment... which is interesting, reavealing... and not that long ago...
There are many more stories of things like this, I know, but most people don't want to know.
ReplyDeleteJ. Edgar Hoover! Oh my friend, I am ashamed to call him a fellow American. He had SECRET files on almost everyone! What a nutcase! Do yourself a favor, read "Devil At My Heels" when you finish that book, you will need to read about a GREAT American after that book! :-),