Armenia’s painful past
From Brian Todd
CNN
Friday, April 29, 2005 Posted: 2106 GMT (0506 HKT)

WASHINGTON (CNN) — We shudder at images from Darfur, Sudan, wince at
memories of Rwanda and look at grainy pictures of the Holocaust and say
“never again.”
Nearly forgotten is a brutal campaign from nearly a century ago, that
historians say may not have been a model for those genocides, but certainly
provided a rationale.
“The fact that a state could in fact carry this out under the eyes of the
international community and get away with it, became in fact a hallmark of
what the 20th century, the tragic 20th century, was really all about,” says
Charles King, author of “The Black Sea: A History.”
Adolf Hitler himself was reported to have made a reference to it in 1939, as
he prepared to invade Poland. He was quoted as saying, “Who, after all,
speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?”
In April, 1915, the Ottoman Empire, which covered the general area of what
is now Turkey, was battling on two fronts in World War I, and was
disintegrating in the process.
Armenians, long part of that empire, were restless for independence — and
were getting encouragement from Russia.
The Ottoman Turks, fearful of a Russian invasion on their eastern front, saw
the Russian-Armenian alliance as a huge threat and targeted the Armenian
population inside their borders.
“They embarked on an extermination plan by deporting the entire population,
close to — a little under 2 million Armenians — in the empire into deserts
and by killing and starvation and disease,” says Harut Sassounian, editor of
“The Armenian Genocide.”
Between 1915 and 1923, Armenian leaders were rounded up in cities and
executed; villagers were uprooted en masse and driven south toward the
deserts of what are now Syria and Iraq. Many were shot or butchered outright
by Turkish forces, but most died in forced marches.
The numbers — to this day — are still in dispute. Armenians say 1.5
million were killed. The Turkish government says not more than 300,000
perished and that Armenians weren’t the only victims.
“These few years both sides suffered [and lost an] incredible number of
people to war, to famine, to harsh climate,” says Turkish Ambassador to the
United States Faruk Logoglu.
Objective historians say the Armenian death toll is likely between 600,000
and 1 million.
The fight is not only over numbers, but also a word.
Neither the Turkish government, nor any U.S. president, except Ronald
Reagan, has ever called this event “genocide.”
Sassounian is the grandson of survivors.
“I describe it as a deep wound in the psyche of every Armenian that is not
healing, is not going away, because it’s like an open wound as long as that
denial is there,” Sassounian says.
The U.S. government says between 60,000 and 146,000 people have died in
Darfur, Sudan, over the past two years, and former Secretary of State Colin
Powell called that a genocide.
Historian King believes what happened to the Armenians was genocide by any
definition, but “labeling it genocide among politicians has very severe
political ramifications, particularly in terms of the U.S. relationship with
Turkey — an important strategic partner in southeast Europe and the wider
Middle East,” says King.
As Armenians mark the 90th anniversary of their darkest days, many say all
they want is acknowledgement.
The Turks say they’re willing to set up a commission to examine the
historical record.
Two countries with a closed border and no formal relations — still haunted
by a distant tragedy.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress