Genocide Argumentative Essay

Between 1915 and 1920 a mass killing occurred in the Ottoman Empire where an estimated 500,000 Armenians were slaughtered. Historians have argued on the causes of these massacres and whether or not the Armenian Massacres should be considered genocide. More specifically, historians argue if the Armenian Massacres were precipitated by Turkish nationalism, Armenian rebellion, or Western and Russian influence. There are two main opposing views in this argument of genocide, the Western view and the Turkish view. The West views these massacres as a genocide carried out by the Ottoman and Turkish governments. Turks argue that these massacres should not be considered genocide and that these massacres were not planned. There seems to be a general consensus
Cooper and Akcam do not focus so much on the role of nationalism in the Armenian Massacres, but they do claim that the massacres between 1894 and 1896, in which 200,000 Armenians died, were encouraged by Sultan Abdul Hamid in order to rally the Muslim majority and unify the empire. Mazian also recognizes Turkish nationalism as a cause of the Armenian Massacres, but she also recognizes that Turkey’s loss of its empire led to this nationalism. More specifically, when Talaat Pasha was elected, he initially created a lot of hope, but as Turkey continued to lose territory, the war, and its empire, nationalism became more important in order to compensate for these losses and preserve order. Mazian also contends that the Young Turks’ brand of nationalism, Turkification was a major cause of the massacres. The Young Turks wanted a Turkification of all elements of the Empire, and Armenians posed a threat to this. Turkification ideals also stated that removing the Christian Armenian minority was key to removing the racial barrier