“You can talk about Holocaust denial, but it`s really marginal for the most part. What is compelling about the Armenian genocide, is how it has been forgotten” Atom Egoyan. April 24 marks the anniversary of an inhumane event, the first genocide of 20th century, the Armenian genocide. On this day, Armenians throughout the world remember the horrible tragedy of 1.5 million lives lost throughout the years of 1915 to 1923. Although Turkish governments always denied the charges, relaying on undeniable documents and eyewitness accounts many historians as well as many government officials assert that Turkey is responsible for the crimes it committed to Armenian people. Before the Armenian genocide, Armenians and Turks lived in harmony in the Ottoman Empire for centuries. During these times, although Armenians were not equal, they were pretty well accepted and relatively had no violent conflict. Things began to change for a couple of reasons. As other Christian minorities gained their independence one by one, the Armenians became more isolated as the only major Christian minority. Armenians and Turks began to have conflicting dreams of the future. Some Armenians began to call for independence. The Armenian Genocide is comparable to no other genocide but the Holocaust, where six million Jews were killed under Adolph Hitler’s Nazi regime. There are various parallels between the two that help prove that the Armenian Genocide was almost as terrible as the infamous Jewish Holocaust. Both of these Genocides were very systematic and clearly planned out by the government. The Armenian genocide was carried out under direct orders of the Ottoman Council. For the Holocaust, Hitler himself was the man who planned out the inhumane event. Both Genocides also involved “ethnic cleansing.” The Ottoman Turks were trying to destroy the Armenian race to create a Pan-Turkish Empire. They also believed that the Christian Armenians were a threat because they were right next to the Russian border. Hitler believed that the Jews were an inferior race and that their existence would hurt his power. This brings up another similarity; both Genocides specifically targeted religious minorities. Hitler himself actually knew much about the Armenian Genocide and often looked back at it as a mostly successful Genocide. It was the only recorded genocide in his time. He once said, “Few now remember the annihilation of the Armenians.” Much of his own genocide was based on the methods the Ottoman Empire used in killing the Armenians. For any action a
