The Deadly Turkish Denial by Zach Flora
In 1915, Astrid Aghajanian experienced the beginning of the Armenian genocide. She was one of the last survivors of the genocide that was alive until last May when she passed away (Rapaccioli). She experienced first hand the horrors of the Armenian genocide.
The Armenian genocide cannot be denied. It is just like a scar, it can be hidden, but never will it go away.
One of the scars that hasn’t been hidden that well is in the Deir Zor region in Syria. There are mass graves from the Armenian genocide in the region where you can just scrape the ground and find bone fragments (CBS). These bones are from the bodies of Armenians that were killed almost 100 years ago. There were so many bodies buried back then that the children now don’t even react when they see a human bone.
The other scars that cannot be hidden are the photos of the genocide. There are hundreds of photos from the Armenian genocide. There are ones with Turks walking down the street with weapons in their hands and there are also photos where there are Armenian heads piled up on top of each other (house). Yet with all this evidence it seems not to be enough to prove anything in Turkey.
Though there are some small scars that are hard to find but are there. The scar I am talking about is the convicted genocide leader’s scars. Example of this is the minister of war Enver, Master of Interior Talaat, and Minister of the Navy Lemal. They were all convicted and sentenced to death for contributing to the genocide. Even though their sentences weren’t carried out, there are documents showing the trial evidence and information from different countries (The Armenian). So we know that the information wasn’t from the view of one country but multiple countries.
The scar that is impossible to hide, the one that cannot be denied, is the scar that all of the survivors made. Some were survivors and some were only witnesses. Henry Morgenthau is an example of this. He was a U.S Ambassador for the Ottoman Empire. He saw what was happening and sent the U.S a message describing what was happening calling it “a campaign of race extermination” (the Armenian). Note that this wasn’t a victim that would be lying, this is a U.S citizen that was not threatened or in harm’s way.
With all of these scars you think Turkey would admit it, yet Turkey still denies that it happened. Most of this is due to years of being told a lie that all your friends and family were told as well. So to say something that no one believe happened that seems to offend the state is punishable by jail?
Yes, it is considered a crime to the State to say that the Armenian genocide happened and it is punishable by jail. An example of this is when Hrant Dink was almost put in jail 3 times just for saying the genocide happened. Even though he wasn’t put in jail, a Turkish citizen shot him at point blank when leaving his office, just for saying it happened a couple times. Not just any Turkish citizen though, it was a 17 year old boy shot him (World Briefing). He did this just because Dink was describing the killings of the Armenian’s as genocide (Hrant).
Just because of a lie, a man died in cold blood for speaking his mind. That is why lying can be deadly. It can become something so big that it can make anyone kill an innocent man. There are worse things though than that. Know how you have learned not to do something after getting hurt? That is like this genocide where Turkey is not admitting that it had something this horrible happen in their country. This could lead to another genocide because they did not learn the lesson the first time because nothing bad happened. So there can be the mistake of doing that horrible act a second time.
The scars are so bad that Turkey is offended when talked about by others. Just like two U.S. Presidents said that they would make the Armenian Genocide an official fact or that they would use the word genocide when talking to or about Turkey. The Bush administration almost passed a bill to making the Armenian genocide a fact. Right before it was about to pass though it was vetoed because of the strategic positions with Turkey (Armenian genocide) and because most of our supplies to the Middle East travel through Turkey. Then, during Obama’s last presidential campaign, he said that he would use the word genocide with the Turkish government. Then after he was elected as President, he was meeting with the Turkish president and he did not bring it up for the same reason (Knox)
If Turkey would admit the genocide, how would the world change? I am sure the Turkish people would be very mad at first. I do believe though that over time the Turkish people would accept the idea and even make a good example for people that say the holocaust never happened. Even though it would cause some violence right now, it would be good for the over all future and would be one more step towards having a more perfect world. With scars that we recognize, ones that we have learned from, or scars that we can learn from in the future.