Armenian Genocide
Overview
The Armenian Genocide (1915-1923) was the Ottoman government’s systematic extermination of its peaceful Christian Armenian subjects from their historic homeland within the territory constituting the present-day Republic of Turkey. As a result of the state-ordered and implemented campaign of genocide, the Ottoman Empire killed 1,500,000 Armenian men, women, and children, exiled the Armenian nation from its historic homeland, and destroyed and deported hundreds of thousands of its other Christian citizens.
Continuing the Conversation at Home
Discuss
Although the conversation of genocide may be a challenging one, it builds room for your family to learn about compassion, empathy, and tolerance. Using open ended questions may be the most productive way for your family to express their emotions thoroughly. To start, discover what your family members know about the Armenian Genocide and what they would like to learn. When addressing the topic to children, be sure that your explanation is phrased in a way your child understands the world. An emphasis on words such as “fairness” would help them comprehend better.
After learning about the Armenian Genocide, these are examples of open ended questions to ask your family:
- What is their interpretation and opinion of the event
- How did the world respond to the events of the Armenian Genocide?
- What are their thoughts on intolerance on a specific group of people?
Watch
Discussing the historical context of the Armenian Genocide will aid your family in becoming more aware of the timeline, the causes, and its effects. Following the discussion, visual representations will further define the timeline while showcasing the reality and the depth of the events that took place. Watching these films will build empathy in your family. To help your family get a retrospect of the beginning stages of the Armenian Genocide and the American involvement, The Promise(PG-13) is available. Other films about the Armenian Genocide are Intent to Destory:Death, Denial and Depiction(PG-13) and The Cut(PG-13).
After watching the film(s), consider the following questions as a family:
- What were the differences between the treatments of Armenians before and after the genocide?
- How did the United States and other countries help Armenians during this time?
- While watching the film(s), what specific emotions did you feel?
- What are some ways Armenians can obtain justice for this atrocity?
- Why do you think Turkey denies the Armenian Genocide?
- What was going on during the time of the beginning stages of the genocide? How might World War I be a significant factor?
- What does “never again” mean to you? What are some steps to make sure never again holds its meaning?
Read
One way to connect history and personal experience is through reading books about the Armenian Genocide. Learning about the Armenian Genocide through the use of literature will help your family experience the emotions of empathy, intolerance, and unfairness. Moreover, your family will be able to read written memories about the egregious events through the lens of someone who first-handedly experienced it.
Act
Starting the conversation about intolerance and injustice is a great first step toward action. Learning about the Armenian genocide helps recognize the importance of communication and cooperation of such events to prevent it from repeating. It helps build benevolence, compassion, and tolerance in yourself as well as the world around you.
Continue to research about the Armenian genocide. Building knowledge about the Armenian genocide helps perpetuate the goal of international recognition for it.
Follow and keep up with Armenian organizations, such as the ANCA, to take action for the Armenian community and diaspora.
Exercises
Starting the conversation about intolerance and injustice is a great first step toward action. Learning about the Armenian genocide helps recognize the importance of communication and cooperation of such events to prevent it from repeating. It helps build benevolence, compassion, and tolerance in yourself as well as the world around you.
Continue to research about the Armenian genocide. Building knowledge about the Armenian genocide helps perpetuate the goal of international recognition for it.
Follow and keep up with Armenian organizations, such as the ANCA, to take action for the Armenian community and diaspora.
Poetry and Storytelling Cafe:
In this exercise, your family will write poems and stories about what they have learned regarding history, social issues, and ethics. Since poetry is a great way to express oneself in a way that is imaginative and creative, writing in this form could be a transitional way to instill the lessons of the Armenian Genocide and also the ethics behind the United States assistance. Stories and storytelling conveys the traditional forms of passing down history, as what many Armenians did to preserve their culture during the genocide.
Turning into an Investigator:
In this exercise, you will challenge your family members to become investigators in social justice terminology. You will provide a word from the list below and ask these five essential questions that will lead to open and honest discussion:
“What is __? Who has experienced this? When is it necessary to stand up against ___? How do we combat it? Why should this not be accepted?”
Use the words below to fill in the blanks above:
Internalized Oppression
Privilege
Prejudice
Xenophobia
Oppression
Racism
Bigotry
Note: If a family member does not know the meaning of the word, allow them to be open about them not knowing, then proceed to explain the definition. Allow them to process the new information, then continue to ask the questions.
The goal of this exercise is to guide your family to think openly and critically about the world around them, the way certain groups of people (like Armenians) are treated, and how we can change our ways of thinking and acting to create a safer and inclusive community.