Armenian Genocide: Massacre committed by the Ottoman Empire turns 100 years old

Armenians around the world remember on Friday the centenary of the massacre suffered by their ancestors in the Ottoman Empire during World War I, a tragedy denounced by Armenia as genocide - and vigorously denied by Turkey, which still refuses to use the term. "genocide".

According to the Turks, Armenians refer to a period of civil war in the Anatolian region - aggravated by famine - in which between 300, 000 and half a million Armenians died, as well as so many Turks. However, it is estimated that 1.5 million people died systematically between 1915 and 1917, the last years of the Ottoman Empire.

Because of this contention, genocide remains a hotly contested issue, and relations between Turkey and Armenia continue to be shaken to this day. Following are the main milestones of the massacres and deportations between 1915 and 1917, so that you understand the issue a little better. Check out:

History of the conflict

In the mid-16th century, after hundreds of years under Persian and Byzantine rule, Armenian territory split between the Russian and Ottoman Empires, and a large portion of the population - estimated at 1.7 and 2.3 million Armenians. - remained in Ottoman territory.

However, at the end of the nineteenth century, with the strengthening of the nationalist movement, the Ottoman authorities began to accuse Armenian subjects of disloyalty to the Empire, demanding their autonomy. According to estimates, between 100, 000 and 300, 000 Armenians were reportedly massacred between 1895 and 1896 alone during the reign of Sultan Abdul Hamid II.

A few years later, in October 1914, the Ottoman Empire entered World War I - alongside Germany and Austria-Hungary. But after the empire suffered heavy losses in the fighting that affected the Armenian provinces, the authorities blamed the Armenians for launching a propaganda campaign that called them an "internal enemy."

As a result, on April 24, 1915, thousands of Armenians suspected of harboring hostile nationalist sentiments against the central government were arrested. Most of the prisoners were executed shortly afterwards or deported, and since then April 24 has marked Armenian genocide.

Chain of events

In May 1915, the Ottomans enacted a special law authorizing the deportation of Armenians for reasons of internal security, and in September of the same year, a law ordering the confiscation of property was enacted. As a result, the Armenian population of Anatolia and Cilicia was sentenced to exile in the Mesopotamian deserts, and many Armenians died on the way or in concentration camps.

In addition, according to information from foreign diplomats and secret agents of the time, countless Armenians were burned alive, drowned, poisoned or fell victims of disease. There is even a document sent by the US ambassador serving in the Ottoman Empire, Henry Morgenteau, in which he warns the US Department of State about a campaign of racial extermination under the guise of suppressing a rebellion.

The Ottoman Empire surrendered to the forces of the Triple Entente (composed of Britain, Russia, and France) in late October 1918, and an agreement on the armistice finally allowed the deported Armenians to return home. In February 1919, several senior Ottoman officials were charged with war crimes - including against the Armenians - by a military court in Constantinople, and all were sentenced to death.

Contradictory Versions

As we commented at the beginning of the story, the Armenians estimate that 1.5 million of their own were systematically murdered at the end of the Ottoman Empire. Turkey, for its part, speaks of a civil war, which was accompanied by a famine - which resulted in the deaths of 300, 000 to half a million Armenians and a large number of Turks.

In April 2014, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the then Turkish Prime Minister - and current president - took an unprecedented step in presenting his condolences to the Armenian victims of 1915, while nevertheless denying any intention of extermination. According to Cengiz Aktar, a professor of political science at Sabanci University in Istanbul, the present government has done more than all previous efforts to overturn the taboos of the founding of the Republic, but unfortunately has been detained in full motion.

In 2000, 126 experts, including Nobel Peace laureate Elie Wiesel, historian Yehuda Bauer and sociologist Irving Horowitz, said in a statement published by The New York Times that Armenian genocide in World War I is an unquestionable historical fact.

For Ilber Ortayli, a professor of history at Galatasaray University in Istanbul, Armenian deportation is a real tragedy, and he acknowledges and urges historians in both countries to address this issue and study this period of Turkish-Armenian history step by step. that both get to the bottom of the matter.

Recognition

More than 20 countries now recognize Armenian genocide, including France, Russia, Chile and Argentina, as well as the European Parliament. In 2008, candidate Barack Obama promised to recognize Armenian genocide, but once elected, the US president never used the term publicly. Still, several US states recognize genocide. The same happens in Brazil, where only São Paulo, Ceará and Paraná legitimize the massacre.

Today Erdogan repeated the gesture last year, and once again offered his condolences to the Armenian victims. However, the Turkish government continues to refuse to recognize genocide, a fact that shakes relations between Turkey and Armenia. Already the ceremony celebrated this morning in Yerevan, Armenia, was accompanied by French presidents François Hollande, and Russian, Vladimir Putin, among others, and many condemned the massacre.

The solemnities come a day after 1.5 million Armenian genocide victims were canonized at a mass celebrated by Armenian church chief Catholicos Karékine II in Etchmiadzin, 20 kilometers from Yerevan, in a fourth-century building that is considered the oldest christian cathedral in the world.

It is the greatest canonization ever performed by a Christian church, and soon after the ceremony, the bells of all Armenian churches rang throughout the world, and a minute of silence was observed by the entire Armenian community in honor of the more than one million Armenians deported, killed and tortured during genocide.

* With information from Agence France-Presse