The destruction of the Armenian population in eastern Anatolia by the Ottoman Turks in the early years of this century raises a number of ethical issues not only in terms of the ethical breach by the Turks in instituting such a policy but in terms of the inadequate response of the rest of the world to reports of what was taking place. Indeed, the world has tended to ignore this story ever since, leaving the remaining Armenian population in the world feeling victimized and ill-treated by the world community. At the same time, these circumstances had the ironic effect of strengthening the sense of national unity among the Armenian people. The shameful behavior of the rest of the world toward the genocide in Armenia arguably contributed to the coming of the worst case of genocide in history, the attempted extermination of the Jews by the Nazis in World War II, showing clearly that unethical behavior has consequences which may not be foreseen at the time but which can be devastating just the same.
From the end of the last century to World War I, Turkish fanatics attacked Armenian towns and villages, creating a horror that much of the world tried to forget, though some could not:
The universal indifference to these horrendous events made such a lasting impression on an obscure Austrian corporal in World War I that he later cited it as a justification for his own genocidal policies.
Hitler openly stated in 1931 that he wanted more living space for the German people, and the way to achieve this was to make a mass reduction in population. He referred to the extermination of the Armenians as an example to be emulated. The Armenian massacres were among the last acts of the Ottoman Empire as the Turks killed 1.5 million people in Armenia. The story of this massacre can be traced to the end of the nineteenth century. At that time, Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid II ignored the wishes of the governments of Europe, which protested his de...