Today, in 1915, a campaign to make my people disappear was almost starting. April 24, 1915, Ottoman Empire, about two hundred intellectuals, artists, and thinkers of my people were arrested then beheaded. The rest had been either killed or moved out. Within three years about 1,500,000 of my people were dead. A million and a half human beings. Butchered, heads sliced, pregnant women with open wounds. They moved from Cilicia to Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and many other countries. Allow me to correct my self, exchanged the word “moved” with “walk” in the previous sentence, and add “were forced to” before it. My people had a curse on them of disappearing, why ? Because they are my people.
About a decade ago the first genocide of the 20th century went on. The intention to kill an entire race is genocide, and genocide happened. Ottoman soldiers came in and brutally decided to move everyone out of the Ottoman Empire. Yes, they claimed relocating them.. with swords. These “walks” came to be known as death marches. Besides having to walk all that distance with almost no food on them, they were harassed and constantly receiving death blows. Mothers saw their children die of hunger and thirst. And then these mothers saw their kids being eaten by dogs after minutes from burial. When I say burial, imagine having to leave your dead son on a curb and keep walking. No, not because of heartlessness, but because of the heart they had of survival and taking care of the ones that are still alive. These mothers had to put their babies on the side of their marching ways, not curbs. They had seconds for a last view of their babies. Not only babies, but mostly. Then came a stick by a soldier to treat them like animals. Just for the record, not even animals should be treated that way.
It’s amazing what a government can do without being judged. It’s amazing how a government doing this could be a role model to the other, one of the biggest, genocides. The Holocaust. Adolf Hitler was quoted saying “Who after all remembers the Armenian annihilation” as a reason why he wouldn’t be judged if he went for it. And he did. The irony is he was judged, while my people still wait for justice. President Obama pledged for recognizing the Armenian Genocide. I don’t see it. Does anybody else ? The footage does exist and will be used, but what’s the point when he doesn’t go by his word, unlike many things he hasn’t yet, but that’s a different story for a different time. He’s also not the only president pledging recognizing the Armenian Genocide.
The Armenian Genocide case has locked all Armenians together. You might think that it only was a cause we all fought for, but I got to say, it does keep many Armenians together. Let the genocide be recognized, and watch U.S. Armenians lose the culture within a couple of hundred of years, and lose the language soon after. By U.S. Armenians I don’t mean Armenians who have been here since the 19th century but Armenians who have been born here no matter when. This is a huge issue and it needs to be looked upon. The genocide fight has been keeping us tied together, but once it is recognized we will be proud of it. Our grandchildren’s kids will most likely lose the culture, however.
Things like this need to be viewed from a wide angle point of view, not only close up. We need to see the psychology of it. We need to talk with people who know details that not everyone does. We need to hold hands with each other and carry our culture together. I could’ve said “we’ll lose the culture withing 200 years, oh well” since I won’t be alive then (I might).. but instead I ask you to work with me to keep it. I ask you to save these ideas and work on them. I ask you to teach your kids and brothers and sisters and parents and neighbors about our culture. It is difficult to be in an open minded society and keep the Armenian values around, but they need to be known and implemented. Whether or not they get practiced is another story, but they need to be clear and known to everyone. Only then they will be practiced.
Help me make this a clear point to all the non-Armenians around us. Help me make this clear to anyone who wants to learn. I’ve been writing a documentary for the past three years and I still am working on it. I need your financial help to support me get the documentary on its feet. Yergat. Yergat is in it’s pre-production mode and might be for the next two years. I need you to push with me. I won’t ask ten people to push a huge statue up with all of their energy, but will ask a million of my people to use one finger’s energy all together to put that statue up. All of us working together will ease off the pain from the others. Please check www.yergat.com and support. I only ask for $1 and nothing more from you. $1 from you, $1 from your spouse, $1 from your neighbor, and it all adds up. I only need 6,000 people who are willing to put $1 in. We’ve already covered about 5% of the budget needed amount. So please, help.
Thank you,
Apo Avedissian
