The Student News Site of University Prep

The Puma Press

The Student News Site of University Prep

The Puma Press

The Student News Site of University Prep

The Puma Press

Armenian Genocide

Dear U Prep Community,

I am writing this letter in order to educate my classmates and their relatives, faculty, staff and community members on the terrible atrocities that occurred in 1915 in present-day Turkey.

100 years ago, on April 24, 1915, Turkish leaders began exterminating the minority population of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire. As World War I picked up, the leaders thought that the Armenians would support Russia and attack the Turks. However, the majority of Armenians were not involved in the war; women and children—who made up a significant amount of the dead—wouldn’t have even been able to fight.

Nevertheless, the Turks ordered death marches, executions, burnings and drownings upon the Armenians. Within 7 years, the Armenian population had dropped from two million to half a million.

To this day, the Turkish government refuses to acknowledge their ancestors as genocide perpetrators. Instead, they blame the Armenian deaths on World War I.

As the world commemorated the 100th anniversary of the massacre this past spring, only 26 countries officially recognize the events as a genocide. The other 170 countries, including the United States, vary in their level of acknowledgement: from denial to informal recognition, where no no formal statement is given.

At the time, the world’s focus was on World War I, so many people were not aware of the conflict in Turkey. Although even as we learn more, it is still only a small percentage of countries that recognize the genocide.

Throughout history, the United States has maintained a strong relationship with Turkey. During the Cold War, the United States’ goal was to maintain Turkey as an ally. Because Turkey is a member of NATO, they supplied the United States with arms during both the Afghanistan and Iraq Wars. The United States’ relationship with Turkey has driven our government’s decision not to acknowledge the massacre as a genocide.

Not only is this an unresolved problem of the past, but it is also has an effect on our future. By not acknowledging the killing of 1.5 million people as a genocide, we are communicating to the world that genocide isn’t a serious issue and doesn’t need to be addressed. Adolf Hitler used this specific argument to justify the killing of 11 million minorities during the Holocaust. He asked his audience, “Who still talks nowadays of the extermination of the Armenians?”

We cannot let this example continue to blur the difference between right and wrong. We need show the world that there is punishment for genocide.

By: Annie Cohen