1. Although Armenians were second class citizens in the Ottoman Empire, they lived in relative harmony with Turks
for centuries before the forces of nationalism transformed the situation. Armenians were known as the "loyal
group". During these times, although Armenians were not equal and had to put up with certain special hardships,
taxes and second class citizenship, they were pretty well accepted and there was relatively little violent conflict.
Things began to change for a number of reasons. Nationalism, a new force in the world, reared its head and
made ethnic groupings self-conscious, and the Ottoman Empire began to crumble. It became known as "the sick
man of Europe" and the only thing holding it together was the European powers' lack of agreement on how to
split it up. As other Christian minorities gained their independence one by one, the Armenians became more
isolated as the only major Christian minority. Armenians and Turks began to have conflicting dreams of the
future. Some Armenians began to call for independence like the Greeks and others had already received, while
some Turks began to envision a new Pan-Turkic empire spreading all the way to Turkic speaking parts of
Central Asia. Armenians were the only ethnic group in between these two major pockets of Turkish speakers
and the nationalist Turks wanted to get rid of them altogether. As European powers began to ask for assurances
that Armenians receive better treatment, the government began to treat the Armenians worse and worse. From
1894-6 hundreds of thousands of Armenians died in the Hamidian Massacres ordered by Sultan Abdul Hamid II.
A coup by 'progressive' Young Turks in 1908 replacing the Sultans government was supported by Armenians.
Unfortunately, promised reforms never came, and in fact a triumvirate of extreme Turkish nationalists took
complete dictatorial control, Enver, Jemal and Talat. It was they who masterminded the plan to completely
eradicate the Armenian race in a step towards fulfilling their pan-Turkic dreams. The Turkish massacres of
Armenians in 1894, 1895, 1896, and 1909 were still fresh in their minds. World War One gave the Young Turk
government the cover and the excuse to carry out their plan. The plan was simple and its goal was clear. On
April 24th 1915, commemorated worldwide by Armenians as Genocide Memorial Day, hundreds of Armenian
leaders were murdered in Istanbul after being summoned and gathered. The now leaderless Armenian people
were to follow. Across the Ottoman Empire (with the exception of Constantinople, presumably due to a large
foreign presence), the same events transpired from village to village, from province to province. The remarkable
thing about the following events is the virtually complete cooperation of the Armenians. For a number of reasons
they did not know what was planned for them and went along with "their" government's plan to "relocate them for
their own good." First, the Armenians were asked to turn in hunting weapons for the war effort. Communities

2. were often given quotas and would have to buy additional weapons from Turks to meet their quota. Later, the
government would claim these weapons were proof that Armenians were about to rebel. The able bodied men
were then "drafted" to help in the wartime effort. These men were either immediately killed or were worked to
death. Now the villages and towns, with only women, children, and elderly left were systematically emptied. The
remaining residents would be told to gather for a temporary relocation and to only bring what they could carry.
The Armenians again obediently followed instructions and were "escorted" by Turkish Gendarmes in death
marches. The death marches led across Anatolia, and the purpose was clear. The Armenians were raped,
starved, dehydrated, murdered, and kidnapped along the way. The Turkish Gendarmes either led these
atrocities or turned a blind eye. Their eventual destination for resettlement was just as telling in revealing the
Turkish governments goal: the Syrian Desert, Der Zor. Those who miraculously survived the march would arrive
to this bleak desert only to be killed upon arrival or to somehow survive until a way to escape the empire was
found. Usually those that survived and escaped received assistance from those who have come to be known as
"good Turks," from foreign missionaries who recorded much of these events and from Arabs. After the war
ended, the Turkish government held criminal trials and found the triumvirate guilty in abstentia. All three were
later executed by Armenians. Turkey agreed to let the US draw the border between the newly born Republic of
Armenia and the Turkish government. What is now called Wilsonian Armenia included most of the six western
Ottoman provinces as well as a large coastline on the Black Sea. Cilicia, a separate Armenian region on the
Mediterranean, was to be a French mandate. Mustafa Kemal's forces pushed the newly returned Armenian
refugees and forces from these lands and forced a new treaty to be written which was an insult to Armenian
victims. They were basically told never to return and that they would never receive compensation. The Kars and
Ardahan provinces of Armenia were taken as well in an agreement with the Soviet Union. On the 50th
anniversary of the genocide, the scattered survivors of the genocide and their children around the world began
commemorating the genocide on April 24th, the day which marked the start of the full-scale massacres in 1915.
Many Armenian Genocide Monuments have been built around the world since, as well as smaller plaques and
dedications. The Turkish government has in the past few decades been denying that a genocide ever occurred
and spending millions of dollars to further that view. This is adding insult to injury and will cause bad feelings to
continue much longer than would otherwise be the case between the peoples. Those who say forget about it, it
is in the past, are wrong. Unless crimes like this are faced up to and compensated for, they will be committed
again and again by people who do not fear prosecution or justice. Read what Hitler said before beginning the
Jewish Holocaust here. A class action suit against New York Life insurance company by genocide survivors was
filed in 1999. They were sued for not being forthcoming in paying up for policies of those killed in the genocide.
The suit was settled in 2004 for $20 million, and payouts began to individuals and some Armenian charitable
organizations. A 2002 study by the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ), a New York-based human
rights organization, ruled that the slaughter of some 1.5 million Armenians fits into the internationally accepted
definition of genocide. The study was commissioned by TARC - a group of Armenians and Turks set up by the
US State Department.
Hrvoje Dumancic, sculptor, Croatia