Sunday, April 24, 2011

Strange Day For Armenians - Easter & Armenian Genocide

Many Armenians celebrate Easter worldwide. And they will do just that today. But April 24 for many Armenians has a certain sentiment throughout the diaspora. This day in 1915: 300 Armenian leaders, writers, thinkers and professionals in Constantinople (present-day Istanbul) were rounded up, deported and killed by the Ottoman Empire. It gets worse: On that same day in Constantinople (now Istanbul), 5,000 of the poorest Armenians were butchered in the streets and in their homes.

That wasn't the end of it: 1.5 million Armenians were killed in the Armenian Genocide between 1915-1923. They were methodically massacred, tortured, and sent out into the dessert to die of starvation and thirst. Women were raped and abused; children were also subject to the same vile and inhumane treatment. Nice, huh?

April 24th - a day Armenians all over the world commemorate this putrid, horrible tragedy committed against us innocent humans by our own species.

The United States government as a whole remains the last of many countries to officially acknowledge this as a Genocide. Year after year it comes up in our congress, and year after year it's "not the right time." Why? Because Turkey denies the genocide ever took place and threatens their relationship with the U.S.A.