Analysis of the Armenian Genocide
The Ottoman Empire had been in a steady decline for years and a new government and identified a problem, the Armenians, to blame. In an attempt to solve their problem, the Ottoman Turks attempted to exterminate the entire Armenian population, known as genocide, as the solution. However, the Turks deny the existence of a genocide and claim it was a civil war between the Armenians and themselves. Despite claiming the Armenian Genocide was a civil war, it is clear that the Armenian population suffered atrocities, genocide, at the hands of the Ottoman Turks because they were identified as a minority group by the government, subjected to expropriation meant to decrease their sense of humanity, concentrated which…show more content… In the eyes of the Turks, the Ottoman Empire could flourish only if the Armenians were not a part of it. According to Document 1, only the Armenian population was targeted by the government. Armenians were singled out because of their ethnicity as a minority group living under Ottoman rule. Since their traditions and beliefs were starkly different than the majority of the population, they were easy to identify. Armenians were one of the few nations in the Middle East that practiced Christianity; most nations practiced Islam in this region. Religious conflicts between Muslims and Christians date back thousands of years which explains why the Turks felt that they were being secretly undermined. Religious differences prompted the Turks to assume that the Armenians were not a member of their society, rather, it was assumed that they were conspiring with enemy nations, including Russia, to undermine the Ottoman Empire. Therefore, when a nationalist group known as the “Young Turks” overthrew the existing government and rose to power, they sought to create a stronger, purer, empire that did not include minority groups, like the Armenians. In addition, the Armenians had been second class citizens for years and had always faced oppression and discrimination. Thus, the steady decline of the Ottoman empire was attributed to the Armenians…show more content… When the Turks eventually executed the Armenians, they looked for the most cost efficient method that killed large amounts of people at a time while sparing no one; innocent women and children lives were lost in an attempt to eradicate the Armenian population from the face of the earth. The purpose of DOC 1 is to provide an idea of how the Armenians were killed and on what scale. In order for mass killings to be considered genocide, enough people of the same ethnicity or group must be executed with the intent of removing them from the world. As stated in DOC 1, Armenians were killed en route to the desert since they were already concentrated in large numbers. Another method of execution was to starve the Armenians; starvation is a cheap way to kill thousands of people without sacrificing any money or resources needed for the war. In addition, only the government had the power to not only displace the Armenian population but have the weapons to kill them on such a large scale. The only people who know how to calibrate high power, efficient weapons are members of the military, a government entity. The POV of Doc 2 is a government official who directly states that the government’s ultimate goal is to eradicate all Armenians living in Turkey to any extent. Clearly, the government aimed to eliminate every single Armenian from their empire on a massive scale.