The prestigious The New York Times has published an interesting article ahead of the 100^th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, reports tert.am.

“Hayern Aysor” presents the article by correspondent John Kifner with some reductions:

The author starts by presenting historical facts, stating that there were 2 million Armenians living in the collapsing Ottoman Empire on the threshold of the First World War. In 1922, there were only 400,000 Armenians since 1.5 million had fallen victim to genocide.

“However, for the Turks, what happened in 1915 is nothing but a part of the mixed war that put an end to the once powerful empire. They don’t accept the term “genocide” and historians’ conclusions, saying that the Turks didn’t intend to annihilate an entire nation. Moreover, even raising the issue about what happened to the Armenians is considered a crime in modern-day Turkey,” writes Kifner.

The author notes that for years, the powerful Armenian community centralized in Los Angeles has been pressuring Congress to condemn the Armenian Genocide, and Turkey responds to this with big threats. Kifner recalls that the condemning resolution was about to pass in 2007, but President George W. Bush’s administration made sure the resolution was removed from the agenda, taking into consideration the fact that Turkey is an important military ally to the U.S.

Getting back to the main topic of the Armenian Genocide, the author writes that the roots of the tragedy can be traced back to the fall of the Ottoman Empire. He recalls that after the Young Turks came to power, they started the process of “Turkifying” the country. They entered the First World War and fought against the Russians from the Germans’ side. However, after suffering heavy losses, the Young Turks blamed the Armenians and declared them as a serious threat to the functioning of the Turkish state.

According to Kifner, in its articles published in the early 20^th century, The New York Times had clearly mentioned that “the Turks are leading a policy aimed at annihilating Christians”. The prestigious newspaper had 145 articles devoted to the annihilation of the Armenians in 1915 alone. The author continues, stating that “in order to make the Armenians weak”, the Young Turks would take their properties, exile “dangerous” people, steal weapons, remove them from the military and move them to labor camps.

“Western diplomats, missionaries and others of the time have kept information regarding the sufferings that the Armenians underwent during the genocide. The West has strictly criticized the Turks for that. Although Turkey’s then ally Germany was silent, the documents revealed years later show how horrified high-ranking German officials and servicemen were as they saw what had happened,” Kifner continues.

The author also cites the words of American diplomat Henry Morgenthau, according to which “the Turkish authorities were merely giving the death warrant to a whole race”.

“They understood this well, and, in their conversations with me, they made no particular attempt to conceal the fact,” the diplomat recalled.