Armenia is a country that was a part of the Ottoman Empire (1298-1922) and for centuries inhabited the Eastern Anatolia land known as present-day Eastern Turkey. Turkey was at the Empire's center. At its height of expansion, the Ottoman Empire ruled over Eastern Europe and the countries of Greece, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Egypt, Romania, Armenia, Jordan, Syria, Palestine, Hungary, Turkey, and part of the North African coast. The collapse of the Ottoman Empire would lead to the horrific disaster called the 1915 Armenian Genocide, better known as the Armenian Holocaust. Armenians faced discrimination in this Muslim Empire because they were a Christian minority. As the Ottomans entered World War I, the Armenians were singled out, persecuted and were gradually exterminated out of their homeland at the end of World War I via mass deportation or massacres. Armenia represents a religious minority systematically murdered in an attempt to create a new homogenized state: a pure Turkey. This is Genocide.

The Ottoman Empire prior to its destruction was a religiously diverse and prosperous Empire. Yet, the once prosperous economy suffered under stagnant bureaucratic leadership and the decline became inevitable. Labeled the "Sick Man" of Europe due to its crumbling economy, and its embarrassing defeat in the First Balkan War, the Young Turk Government blamed the Christian Armenians and accused them of being treacherous and untrustworthy. The Ottomans began a campaign of perverse nationalism and hatred and strong man politics against the Armenians. This created anguish and despair for Armenians during World War I and after.

The systematic killing of the Armenians at the hands of the Young Turk government began on April 24, 1915. On this date, the Turkish government began murdering Armenian intellectuals. The Armenian people were sent on death marches through the Mesopotamian desert with no nourishment. Furthermore, death squads were created to distinguish any Christian element in their country. The genocide lasted from 1915 to 1918.

This Genocide killed about 1.5 million Armenians by starvation, mass murder, individual killings, and ill-treatment. Considered the first Genocide of the modern era, it is continuously denied by the Turkish Government until this day. Despite America's good relationship with Turkey, by 2010 America formally recognized the Armenian Genocide. The Turkish government's denial of responsibility continues to hurt the descendants of the Genocide but does not continue to define them. The Armenian people refuse to forget and always remember the atrocities that afflicted their people. But the hard part is for the Armenian Genocide to be recognized by Turkey and the world to ensure that this massacre never happens again.

Text by Sarah Hernandez