The Forum, ND
May 9 2004

Other views: Armenian genocide examined
By Anna Hovhannisyan, The Forum

The Ottoman Empire carried out the annihilation of the Armenians, a
nation that accepted Christianity the first in the world in 301 A.D.

Out of a total of 2.5 million Armenians, 1.5 million were killed.

Abdul Hamid II had 300,000 Armenians slaughtered in 1885, which could
be considered the beginning of the Armenian genocide. In 1909, 30,000
Armenians were slaughtered in Adana. Upon a premeditated plan, the
ruling party of Turkey carried out the annihilation of the Armenians
in the Empire.

And this genocide is forgotten. Many countries in the world deny the
genocide of Armenians. Thirty-three states of America have recognized
it, and 166 senators and congressmen of the United States signed the
letter to President George Bush urging him to recognize the Armenian
genocide.

Leaving crimes unpunished is a prerequisite for new ones. Proof of
this is obvious as Hitler said to his generals before the Holocaust:
“Who after all remembers the extermination of Armenians?”

The movie “Ararat” about the Armenian genocide will be presented
Tuesday at 7 p.m., at Minnesota State University Moorhead, Comstock
Memorial Union, room 227.

“Ararat,” Atom Egoyan’s mysterious drama about the horrors of the
largely unknown Armenian genocide in Turkey, unrolls through a film
within the film.

The members of a film crew struggle with their own respective
interpretations of the past as they make a docudrama about the
Armenian holocaust.

Hovhannisyan is a mass communication student at Minnesota State
University Moorhead.

E-mail hov_anna@hotmail.com