THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
Sam Vaknin, Ph.D.

PeaceJournalism, Nepal
Sept 6 2005

The Armenian massacres in Turkey started in the 19th century
and continued well after the Armenian genocide of 1915 in which
some 600,000 Armenians perished. The Armenians were also raided by
Kurdish tribesmen on a regular basis. An Ottoman military tribunal,
convened between 1919-21, even convicted for the crimes members of
the administration of the Young Turks, including cabinet ministers.

Many of the perpetrators fled the country only to return, triumphant,
after the establishment of modern Turkey in 1923. The Turkish
government today denies that an organized, premeditated genocide ever
took place and pegs the number of Armenian fatalities at 200-300,000
at the most.

Towards the end of the 19th century, the Armenians formed guerrilla
movements in eastern Van (the Armenakans, in 1885) and in Russia.
Radical nationalist parties were established by Russian-Armenian
emigrants in 1887 (Hunchak or Henchak, “The Bell”) and in 1890 in
Georgia (Dashnak or Dashnaktsutyun, “Union”). Mass demonstrations in
the Turkish capital (in 1890 and 1895) and armed uprisings followed
(in 1894-5). The Dashnaks even invaded Turkey from Russia in 1896 – a
demonstrative act which resulted in the slaughter of 50,000 Armenians.

The suppression of these revolts claimed 200,000 Armenian lives. In
1909, in Adana, more than 23,000 Armenians were massacred as the
warships of the Great Powers stood idly by. In 1912-3 the Great
Powers, led by Russia, pressured Turkey to cease its mistreatment
of the Armenians. This intervention was resented by the Ottoman
authorities. By 1915, Armenian calls for autonomy were deemed a danger
to the disintegrating realm, now at war with Russia.

When the first world war broke, Turkey allied itself with the
Germans. All Armenian men aged 20-45 were conscripted to the army as
soldiers, soon to be disarmed and serve as pack animals or in menial
jobs. When Russian Armenians recruited Turkish Armenians for the
anti-Turkish Russian Army of the Caucasus, in April 1915, the elite
of the Armenian community was arrested and executed. Between May and
June 1915 the Armenian population was deported to Mesopotamia. The
deportation followed mass executions.

Many more died from starvation, exposure, dehydration, abuse and
outright torture. The survivors – less than 300,000 – were subjected
to additional slaughter in Syria. People were beaten with blunt
instruments, burnt alive or drowned forcibly. The massacres were
carried out by military officers with dictatorial powers, aided
by criminals especially released from jails and assigned to their
gruesome duties.

Armed resistance in Van province, Mussa Dagh, Shabin Karahisar
and Urfa – as well as setbacks in the war – prevented the Turks for
deporting the urban Armenian population in the Ottoman Empire’s major
cities. Today there are less than 60,000 Armenians in Turkey compared
to at least 1.8 million in 1910.

Sam Vaknin, Ph.D. is the author of Malignant Self Love – Narcissism
Revisited and After the Rain – How the West Lost the East. He served
as a columnist for Central Europe Review, PopMatters, Bellaonline,
and eBookWeb, a United Press International (UPI) Senior Business
Correspondent, and the editor of mental health and Central East Europe
categories in The Open Directory and Suite101.

Until recently, he served as the Economic Advisor to the Government
of Macedonia. Sam Vaknin’s Web site is at