Causes Of The Armenian Genocide

Historically in the Ottoman Empire there was a certain level of tolerance towards other cultures and religion. For millennia the Armenians, have had a cultural history rooted in what is today eastern Turkey. However, in the late 1800’s nationalism began to spread and go awry, causing much tension, then genocide. A nationalist movement began among the Armenian community living within the Ottoman Empire; in consequence, in the 1890s the Ottomans ordered the killing of tens of thousands of Armenians. Despite all the evidence against them, such as photographs taken by Armin T. Wegner (The Forgotten) of the atrocities committed, and interviews with survivors and eyewitnesses; the modern Turkish government is still in denial that the Armenian Genocide
The government before the first World War, was trying to convince the Turkish people that the only way for the empire to succeed and persist was to promote the ideology of Turkish nationalism (Turgay). This ideology that caused the massacres of the Armenian people, also caused the modern government to place restrictions on speaking of the atrocities. This has caused national stigma, and therefore a hesitance to admit to any wrongs the “great nation” of Turkey has committed. Although much of the hesitance to admit to the genocide stems from the government and their conservative viewpoints. It has greatly affected how the current generation of Turkey reacts to the issue. The nationalist views of the early twenties and twentieth century have carried over into the education system today. The pattern of denial is learned in schools, and reinforced by media highlighting the alleged treachery of Armenians who fought with the invading Russians and showcasing the dozens of Turkish diplomats killed by the Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia
If the events of the Armenian Genocide were to be acknowledged at all there are extensive measures taken to guard the nation's pride, set up by Ataturk's government (Watenpaugh). The policies and laws passed, prevent the history of the Armenian genocide to be taught in schools, and any publications that would reveal Turkey being at fault for the genocide are forbidden. Not only were these policies put in place to secure that the issue would disappear from within the nation, but they were reason for the idea behind such great denial; the idea that the Turks, or Turkey, were capable of genocide undermines the fundamental decency of the Turkish people (Watenpaugh). Ataturk also changed the Turkish alphabet to a Latin based one from the old Ottoman script, which essentially has left modern turkey without an understanding of old Ottoman scripts that detail the majority of Turkey’s history (Lauer). This effectively allows for historical revisionism to further obscure any form of genocide and allows for denial to be carried through