Conflict Resolution To Eradicate Genocide
The Ottoman Empire was breaking up. The ethnic groups were nationalizing into their own countries. For example, Most Greek people in the modern day Turkey moved to Greece when Greece nationalized and became their own self-governing country. Most of the Turkish people living in Greece moved to what became Turkey. The Ottoman Empire viewed the Armenians as being traitors to the Ottoman Empire: the Armenians were being spies for Russia. Russia was trying to take over the Turkish or Anatolian portion of the Ottoman Empire. The Armenians were causing problems for Turkish people in their villages. The Ottoman Empires solution was to give the Armenians a section of land in the Ottoman Empire they could call their own country.
The solution the failing Ottoman Empire had for the Armenians was to force them out of their homes. Unfortunately for the Armenians, they were forced to travel hundreds of miles without food or water, which killed many of them. Modern day Turkey is a completely different government then the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Empire was ruled by the Turkish family dynasty for over 600 years. The modern day Turkish government is a republican democracy. The country Turkey denies there was genocide. That the Armenians commuted crimes. Also, the Turkish government refuses to repay reparations the Armenians want.
Even in 2017, acknowledging the Armenian Genocide is a hot-button issue as the Republic of Turkey is critical of scholars for both inflating the death toll and for blaming Turks for deaths that the Turkish government says occurred because of starvation and the cruelty of war.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan who is the Turkish Prime Minister sent his condolences to the Armenian people on the eve of the 99th anniversary. He wanted to let people know that “The incidents of the first world war are our shared pain.” Recognizing this genocide is not only important to the Armenians, but it is also imperative for the growth of Turkey as a democratic state. If we choose to deny the past, genocide is not over it is still occurring. In 2010 a Swedish Parliament Resolution declared that “the denial of genocide is widely recognized as the final stage of genocide, enshrining impunity for the perpetrators of genocide, and demonstrably paving the way for future genocides.”
As tension grew with the Armenians and Turkish authorities during this historic period. Sultan Abdel Hamid II, who was known as the “bloody sultan”, told a reporter in 1890, “I will give them a box on the ear that will make them relinquish their revolutionary ambitions.” The first wave of the Armenian massacres was in 1894, this was known as “box on the ear” massacre. Military, Ottoman forces and civilians attacked Armenian villages in Eastern Anatolia, killing 8,000 Armenians, including children. That following year, 2,500 Armenian women were killed by being set on fire and burned to death in Urfa Cathedral. During that same time, demonstrators were out pleading and begging for international interventions to prevent massacres. Officials in Constantinople were rattled and infuriated by this and the result was another 5,000 deaths. It was estimated that by1896, that over 80,000 Armenians had been killed.
