The genocide against the Armenians by the Ottoman Turks represents one of the first ideologically oriented genocides occurring during World War I in 1915. The Ottoman Empire had suffered from a progressive decline up to this period, which spurred on a movement and ideology focusing on nationalism. This over-enthusiastic nationalism promoted homogeneity of culture including one language and one religion. The movement was strongest among a group labeled the ôYoung Turks,ö a factious group that became determined to depose the Sultan and modernize Turkey.
The Young Turks were determined to create a common culture, language and religion shared by all, a movement that excluded all minority groups especially the Armenians. The genocide was not ethnically motivated, however. Any Armenians who were willing to adopt the language, culture and religion of the Turks were to be spared. Those who refused to convert or change over to the dominant Turkish culture, religion and language were tortured, buried alive, decapitated or burned. Unlike the Holocaust in Germany during World War II, the Turks permitted Armenians who would convert to live but not many were willing to change their religion or language to suit the Turks. Many Armenians were decapitated or otherwise killed in front of their families to instill fear in those Armenians left alive so as to motivate their conversion.
My grandfather was only ten-years-old when the Turks came to his village and started to evacuate the Armenian households for extermination. The Turks took the educated men and murdered them in front of their families. My great-grandfather was a victim of the genocide, primarily because he was an educated professional (a doctor) and was involved in political activism. My grandfather watched as the Turks hanged his father. My grandfather and his mother were then taken away by the Turks to Nachichcuan, where the Turks planned to kill all the women and child...