The Armenian Genocide

“None of us is in a position to eliminate war, but it is our obligation to denounce it and expose it in all its hideousness. War leaves no victors, only victims” (Wiesel). Webster’s Dictionary defines the word “genocide” as “the deliberate killing of a large group of people, especially those of a particular ethnic group or nation.” Genocides are not just considered murders—they are seen as inhumane massacres. Throughout history many genocides have occurred, ranging from the notorious Holocaust and the infamous Armenian Genocide, and to concealed killings such as the Darfur Genocide. However, no matter when or where, the underlying causes of genocides—hatred of minorities, their cultures, and their successes—have not changed. The Holocaust,

The Young Turk government during World War 1 lead a deliberate attempt to destroy the Armenian minorities, from 1914 to 1918. At the beginning of the 11th century, Armenian political independence was brought to an end by a wave of invasions and migrations by Turkic-speaking peoples, and in the 15th and 16th centuries the region that was mainly inhabited by Armenians was annexed by the Ottoman Turks, and became a part of the vast Ottoman Empire. “Armenians retained a strong sense of communal identity, however, embodied in the Armenian language and the Armenian Church. Life for Armenian villagers was difficult and unpredictable, and they often received harsh treatment from the dominant Kurdish nomads” (Britannica). Even though Armenians were a minority surrounded by the Ottoman’s lifestyle and culture, they retained their own identity. The Muslim Ottomans shunned other cultures, and when the Armenians did not change even after being annexed, the Muslims felt hostility and hatred towards the Armenians and their culture. “The prominence and influence of the well-educated and cosmopolitan Armenian elite had a drawback in that it became a source of resentment and suspicion among Muslims” (Britannica). As the Armenian minorities thrived, the Muslims of the Ottoman Empire became envious and resentful. This jealousy added “fuel to the fire,” and the Armenian minorities were even more in

They were aided by hired Arab militias known as the Janjaweed, and targeted the “non-Arab black Africans”—minorities of Sudan’s Darfur region. Labeling the Sudanese government’s actions as genocide has been controversial, but the ruthless, one sided killing portrays these human rights violations as a genocide. “Eyewitness accounts describe how Sudanese government forces and Janjaweed militias swept villages on horse or camel back, wielding automatic weapons and firing indiscriminately at civilians. Homes, grain stores, and crops were destroyed, while women, children, and the elderly were whipped, raped, tortured, and, in some cases, ultimately murdered” (ABC Clio). The needless violence of the Sudanese government and the Janjaweed militias shows how this massacre was not just an action of self-defense or fear, but hatred. Not only were the victims killed ruthlessly, but they were also “whipped, raped, and tortured.” The overexertion of violence and the destruction of personal valuables shows how the slaughter of the non-Arabs was deeply rooted and personal. The hatred of minorities in the Darfur region caused the mass slaughter and destruction of the Arab culture. “In the late 1980s, a coalition of Arab nomads initiated attacks against Fur (a tribe) sedentary farmers after the latter began fencing in land” (ABC Clio). When the Fur tribe began to become prosperous from farming their land,