Petros Agapetos about Armenia

[Petros Agapetos]

Armenia is a not-quite-Asian, not-quite-European country in the Caucasus region. It is bordered by Azerbaijan, Turkey, Georgia, Iran, and the internationally unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic which is claimed by both Azerbaijan and Armenia. The Kingdom of Armenia was the first nation to recognize Christianity as the official state religion in 301, predating the Roman Empire's legalization of Christianity by 12 years. Consequently, the Armenian Apostolic Church (independent of Eastern Orthodoxy) is the world's oldest state church. Nearly 95% of Armenians belong to the Church.

The Armenian genocide took place between 1915 and 1918; the Ottoman Empire committed systematic killings, deportations, and forced displacement of the (predominantly Christian) Armenian population, resulting in the deaths of 1 to 1.5 million people. The factuality of the Armenian genocide is denied by the government of Turkey, who argue it was a religious and ethnic war, and that up to a million Islamic Turks and Kurds died during the period at the hands of Armenian militiamen, as part of the broader phenomena of Christian-Muslim violence throughout the Ottoman Empire at the time.

Armenia was part of the Soviet Union from 1922 through 1991. At first it was part of the Transcaucasian SSR. The Armenian SSR was formed in 1936.

Armenia declared independence from the Soviets in 1990, and was internationally recognized after the dissolution of the USSR in 1991. Armenia has disputed the Nagorno-Karabakh region with Azerbaijan since then, up to the present day.

[Petros Agapetos]

Armenian Genocide denial refers to the denial of the genocide against (already systematically discriminated) Armenians committed by the Ottoman Empire under the rule of the Young Turks from 1915 to 1918. Turkey denies that the Ottomans were responsible for the killing of one million Armenians during World War I, arguing that:

1. The death toll has been inflated;
2. Ethnic violence killed Turks as well;
3. Deportations and death marches were simply "temporarily relocation" of Armenians for "security reasons" (i.e. the pesky Armenians were being overtly "rebellious," "hostile," or pro-Russian); and
4. The Ottoman leadership didn't intend to exterminate the Armenians, so it can't be called a "genocide."

As early as 1915, Britain, France, and Russia issued a statement that the Armenians were the victims of crimes against humanity and civilization (the term "genocide" didn't exist then). The Treaty of Sevres signed in 1920 created an Armenian state. However, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the first then-president of the Great National Assembly, refused to abide by the treaty and occupied the Armenian Republic by the Treaties of Kars and Moskova, signed with the Armenians and the Soviet Russians respectively. The Armenian Republic collapsed and was subsumed by Turkey and the Soviet Union by said treaties, with many more deportations of Armenians taking place in the process. Turkey escaped being held responsible by the international community.

[Kamal900]

My condolences to all of the innocent Armenian men, women and children that were killed by the savage bloodthirsty Turks.

[Petros Agapetos]

Recognition of the Armenian Genocide is a thorny issue since Turkey occupies a very strategic position in the world. Currently, 43 nations provide some level of recognition of the event. Historically, Turkey has leveraged its position as an important ally in the Middle East to keep the United States from recognizing the genocide. The United States has recently joined the group of nations that recognize what the Ottomans did. Another holdout is Israel, which has only tepidly recognized the genocide. This is largely because the Israelis are in-between a rock and a hard place; Turkey is one of the few predominantly Muslim nations in their region which maintains some level of diplomatic ties with them.

[Petros Agapetos]

My condolences to all of the innocent Armenian men, women and children that were killed by the savage bloodthirsty Turks.

Turks have committed massacres against Armenians, Greeks, and Assyrians, since time imemorial. It's almost as if it is in their culture or perhaps even in their genes, who knows, I am not a scientist, but I am a naturalist, there must be some natural explanation of their inhumanity, savagery, thuggery, and barbarism. I blame the political ideology of jihad, sharia, and dhimma, in the Turkish persecution of Christians. I am unique in this position. Most Armenians would not generalize over all of Islam as I do. Most Armenians would only blame the Turks, and Islam isn't even mentioned or considered as a possible factor.

Part of the reason why I opened this thread is that I wanted to know whether my understanding of the Armenian Genocide is accurate. And whether I am blaming the right people justifiably. I don't want to accuse innocent people.

[Kamal900]

Turks have committed massacres against Armenians, Greeks, and Assyrians, since time imemorial. It's almost as if it is in their culture or perhaps even genese, who knows, I am not a scientist, but I am a naturalist, there must be some natural explanation of their savagery and barbarism. I blame the political ideology of jihad, sharia, and dhimma, in the Turkish persecution of Christians. I am unique in this position. Most Armenians would not broadly generalize over all Muslims or Islam, in as sweeping a fashion that I do.

Part of the reason why I opened this thread is that I wanted to know whether my understanding of the Armenian Genocide is accurate. And whether I am blaming the right people justifiably. I don't want to accuse innocent people.

The Young Turks were a Pan-Turanist and Secular organization, and they persecuted the Armenians and other Christians based on racial and religious grounds. Turks today refuse to take responsibilities of their actions towards their Christian neighbors, and yet, they claim to be civilized and etc. Disgusting.

[Petros Agapetos]

The Turks are probably the most outspoken objecters to the term "genocide." In fact, a Turk, in Turkey, can even be arrested for acknowledging that one took place (a strange inversion of laws that criminalize Holocaust denial). This falls under Article 301 of the Turkish penal code, which makes it a crime to "insult Turkishness" (regardless of whether it's true). Prosecutors brought such a case in 2005 against writer Orhan Pamuk.

There are Turks outside of the Armenian community who recognize the Armenian Genocide. This includes scholars like Orhan Pamuk, Fatma Muge Cocek, and Taner Akçam. This has not gone over well with much of the Turkish public, especially nationalists.

[Petros Agapetos]

Anti-Semitic Inversion

Certain bigots have accused Jews of deliberately not giving the Armenian Genocide (as well as other genocides) enough attention in the media (as they supposedly run it) in order to focus solely on the Holocaust. That said, Israel (as opposed to the nebulous group of Joooz!!!) has been rather loath to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide and careful about not drawing parallels with the Holocaust so as not to offend Turkish officialdom, a fact eagerly snapped up by the aforementioned bigots. This has less to do with any anti-Armenianism and more to do with Turkey being pretty much the only country in the region not hostile to Israel.

Anti-Islamic Inversion

As if the above wasn't enough, the infamous conservative tabloid Breitbart launched an article on the 100th anniversary of the genocide claiming that the world refused to recognize the genocide out of fear of offending Muslims. The article also claims that the genocide which was committed by the secular Young Turks, was doing so out of Islamism. The article conveniently ignores that Syria, Lebanon and the Tehran regional governments recognize the genocide and that Armenian Christians are often close with the Arab Muslims in many of the countries they reside in.

Needless to say, Armenians are probably not too thrilled about either bigoted inversion listed above, as they're primarily meant to detract focus on the genocide itself onto other bigoted conspiracies.

[Petros Agapetos]

What role do you think Islam played in the Armenian Genocide?
Muslim persecution of Christians did not start with the Turks, it started with Islam.

[Kamal900]

What role do you think Islam played in the Armenian Genocide?
Muslim persecution of Christians did not start with the Turks, it started with Islam.

Many Muslim Arabs in the Levant and North Africa love Armenians and etc, and they support the christian Greeks, Armenians, Serbs and etc than the Muslim Turks, Albanians and etc. Turks converted to Islam due on the fact that the religion fits their narrative in committing heinous atrocities against their enemies and etc. Genghis Khan and his Turko-Mongol Armies were not Muslims, but at the same time, they have killed over 5 percent of the world population during their reign of terror.