Читать книгу Over Here and Over There - Harry Bobonich - Страница 22

When the Ottoman Empire entered the war on the side of Germany, they decided to attack to the East and capture the city of Baku as part of Turkey’s Caucuses Campaign. It began with the Battle of Sarikamish that took place from December 22, 1914 to January 17, 1915 where the Russians soundly defeated Turkey. Turkey then blamed the Armenians in the area for joining forces with Russia.

Several months after the battle, a terrible thing happened, which should be remembered and commemorated. It is compelling how the Armenian genocide, which started on April 23, 1915 and continued to 1917 has been forgotten. Kifner wrote:

On the eve of World War I, there were two million Armenians in the declining Ottoman Empire. By 1922, there were fewer than 400,000. The others—some 1.5 million—were killed in what historians consider genocide.

The New York Times covered the story extensively—145 articles in 1915 alone by one count—with headlines like “Appeal to Turkey to Stop Massacres.” The Times described the actions against the Armenians as “systematic,” “authorized,” and “organized by the government.” (Kifner 2017)

Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. --Voltaire