Who here knows about the Armenian Genocide.
- Thread starter Yeager942
- Start date
I've heard a little bit about it but not a whole lot but the fact that this kid of thing is still going on in the world scares the crap out of me. I myself don't care where your form what you religion is or anything like that you shouldn't be killed for it.
The really funny thing to me is, I only know this much about it because, at the time, I was trying to get in the pants of this girl, who happened to be trying to get into the pants of this Turkish guy, and so she was learning Turkish and found out all about the controversy. She was an actual certifiably genius and so learned the language really fast, and could fight with actual Turks in America about the Armenian genocide. It offended them a little, but also impressed them, since most Americans don't know anything about their world to begin with.Hannibal942 said:
And now that I've stopped talking to this girl long ago, I retain all this random info because my brain was wired by a lunatic astral arc-welder and his vampiric mistress.
If you get anything out of what I do, thank them.
I am familiar with it, having studied it outside of school when we casually glossed over it in our build-up to World War 1 in high school.
The band System of a Down has done alot to try to raise awareness, they all being Americans of Armenian descent.
The band System of a Down has done alot to try to raise awareness, they all being Americans of Armenian descent.
The systematic murder, attack and harrassment of Armenian Christians in the Ottoman Empire. Nothing particularly 'new', as the Ottomans were doing much the same in the Balkans not fifty years before the genocide, but the Armenian genocide was an actual, planned event.
I did a project on it for school, though that because I already knew about it and was interested in it. My history teacher had never heard of it, for Christ's sake, so it was partly to fill her in.
It gets overlooked for a couple of reasons, I reckon- for instance, the average person wouldn't be able to point Armenia out on a map, so anyone who's not in for it academically would be unlikely to research their history themselves. Second, it happened during WWI- which was deliberate, of course. What better time to do something atrocious than when everyone's looking the other way and out for themselves? And thirdly, Hitler just overshadows everyone because he's the one who ended up in American and English culture, the two most influential sources of media, values and ideas in the world. And the reason people cared about what Hitler did is because, I'm afraid to say, there's a large jewish community in both. People in those countries gave and give a shit about the jews, whereas pick out any thousand Americans off the street and only a fraction of them will have heard of Armenia, let alone be (or know someone) Armenian.
It gets overlooked for a couple of reasons, I reckon- for instance, the average person wouldn't be able to point Armenia out on a map, so anyone who's not in for it academically would be unlikely to research their history themselves. Second, it happened during WWI- which was deliberate, of course. What better time to do something atrocious than when everyone's looking the other way and out for themselves? And thirdly, Hitler just overshadows everyone because he's the one who ended up in American and English culture, the two most influential sources of media, values and ideas in the world. And the reason people cared about what Hitler did is because, I'm afraid to say, there's a large jewish community in both. People in those countries gave and give a shit about the jews, whereas pick out any thousand Americans off the street and only a fraction of them will have heard of Armenia, let alone be (or know someone) Armenian.
Like the Turkish state.Wouldukindly said:
Yeah, I've heard of it. Admittedly it was while doing research specifically on genocides and democides in order to show that The Holocaust wasn't the biggest, most efficient and most horrific democide/atrocity in human history. The first, I think, would go to what was done to Native Americans, although I could be wrong or it may not count. The second would be the Rwandan genocide. The last is up to interpretation, but my vote goes to the Japanese war crimes during the Pacific War - ironically during the very same time period as The Holocaust, but overshadowed by it. That's all just stuff in (relatively) recent history.
On-topic though, I'm aware of the Armenian Genocide, but I haven't really gone that much in-depth about it.
First Genocide of the 20th century.
I have a good friends whose Armenian and he taught me a valuable lesson "the enemy of your enemy is...still a Kurd!:.
I have a good friends whose Armenian and he taught me a valuable lesson "the enemy of your enemy is...still a Kurd!:.
Why would Turkey deny that their Ottoman ancestors slaughtered Armenians 90 years ago?
I think that has to do with Turkey's image of itself right now. It sees itself as a secular democracy, even though it's predominantly Muslim. In fact, secularism can supercede Islamic teaching in Turkish law as we saw last summer, when the Supreme Court of Turkey banned the wearing of headscarves.
To even suggest that the Turks massacred a people simply for religious reasons in the 20th century would be a complete contradiction of the current religous stance of their government. That's why I think they deny it ever happened; they believe it would tarnish their secular image if it was acknowledged.
As tragic as the genocide was, I don't think that the modern-day Turks should feel responsible for what happened in Armenia, much the same as modern-day Germans should not feel responsible for what the Nazis did. It was done under a different government, and the public mindset was much different.
The modern Turks may not be responsible for what the Ottoman Turks did, but I still feel that they should pay reparations to Armenia for what the Ottomans did. There might be some documentation of the figures somewhere, but I'm not sure.
I think that has to do with Turkey's image of itself right now. It sees itself as a secular democracy, even though it's predominantly Muslim. In fact, secularism can supercede Islamic teaching in Turkish law as we saw last summer, when the Supreme Court of Turkey banned the wearing of headscarves.
To even suggest that the Turks massacred a people simply for religious reasons in the 20th century would be a complete contradiction of the current religous stance of their government. That's why I think they deny it ever happened; they believe it would tarnish their secular image if it was acknowledged.
As tragic as the genocide was, I don't think that the modern-day Turks should feel responsible for what happened in Armenia, much the same as modern-day Germans should not feel responsible for what the Nazis did. It was done under a different government, and the public mindset was much different.
The modern Turks may not be responsible for what the Ottoman Turks did, but I still feel that they should pay reparations to Armenia for what the Ottomans did. There might be some documentation of the figures somewhere, but I'm not sure.