Why Every Lebanese Person Should Stand With The Armenians Today
Disclaimer: This article contains graphic stories and recollections of history that may be disturbing to some.
April 24th marks the day of commemoration of the Armenian Genocide committed by the Ottoman Empire (present-day Turkey).
Every year on this date, Armenians around the world remember the horrendous acts that were committed. This has been going on every year for almost a hundred years.
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The first-ever commemoration was organized by a group of Armenian Genocide survivors in Istanbul in 1919 at the St. Trinity Armenian Church.
The Armenian Genocide is also known as the Armenian Holocaust. It refers to the Ottoman government's systematic extermination of 1.5 million Armenians from the Ottoman Empire.
The Armenian people were subjected to deportation, expropriation, abduction, torture, massacre, and starvation.
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The recognition of the Armenian Genocide is a "formal acceptance that the systematic massacres and forced deportation of Armenians committed by the Ottoman Empire from 1915 to 1923 constituted genocide."
As of 2017, governments and parliaments in 26 countries have officially recognized the events as a genocide.
This includes Brazil, Canada , France , Germany , Italy , Russia, and Lebanon, as well as 45 out of the 50 American States. In 2015, Pope Francis called the Armenian Genocide the "first genocide of the 20th century."
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This led to a strong backlash by the Turkish people. Just a few days later, the European Parliament back a motion calling the massacre by Ottoman Turkish Forces a genocide - commending the Pope 's message.
Turkey refuses the genocide ever took place and downplays it to a simple "conflict" or "equal fight."
This is mainly due to the fact that if they admit to it or are found guilty of genocide, they will have to pay the Armenians reparation, which would include large amounts of land.
Hitler has a famous quote about the Armenians when people were criticizing his decision to attack the Polish people: "Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?" - Hitler (1939)
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So why is it important that every Lebanese know about this?
Lebanon welcomed and hosted a big population of Armenians fleeing the genocide. They integrated very well within our society.
But more importantly, we share a similar story. It's not spoken much about but Lebanon faced severe persecution as well under the Ottomans.
" The Ottoman Empire should be cleaned up of the Armenians and the Lebanese. We have destroyed the former by the sword, we shall destroy the latter through starvation. "
- Enver Pasha, May 1916
In fact, during the exact same time, the Ottomans were committing the genocide against the Armenians, roughly half of our entire population in Lebanon starved to death at the hands of the Ottomans.
At the time, Mount Lebanon's main driver of the economy was the silk trade. However, due to the blockade on the Ottoman (in 1915), the people of Lebanon were unable to trade and sell to Europe.
BBC
In turn, the Ottomans adopted a severe policy where all foodstuffs were prioritized for the Ottoman soldiers.
This was made worse when a blockade was introduced by a commander in the Ottoman Empire called Jamal Pasha. He stopped crops from entering Mount Lebanon from neighboring Syria .
The remaining crops were destroyed by a swarm of locusts that lasted for three continuous months.
Kataeb
It all started in 1914 when the Ottoman government took control of the railway system to only be used for their military. This stopped the procurement of crops to parts of the Ottoman Empire.