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3.5 The 1915 Genocide
In April 24 1915 the Ottoman authorities ordered the deportation of practically the entire Armenian and Assyrian Christian populations of eastern Asia Minor to Syria and Iraq, then part of the Ottoman Empire, and to massacre many of them. The genocide continued throughout the year. By the end of 1915, 1,500,000 Armenians and 250,000 Assyrians had been murdered. Many women were raped and children were kidnapped and enslaved to be brought up as Muslims. Many Christians – especially women - were crucified (the photographs are still extant).
About 200,000 Armenians avoided ethnic cleansing/massacre by converting to Islam. Entire villages converted to Islam to avoid massacre. Churches were destroyed or defiled by being turned into barns. A serious attempt was made to destroy every vestige of Christian identity in the region. Ottoman 'justification' for their actions concerns the claim that the Armenians were a fifth column and that there were Armenians in the Russian Army. This ignores that Russian Armenians had little choice in the matter, that Muslim Turkic peoples also served in the Russian army, and that Assyrians were few if any in the Russian forces. In 1914 the Ottoman Armenians had declared their loyalty to the state, despite isolated defections and a small uprising in Cilicia. The Ottomans falsely claimed that there was a rebellion in Van, and that what killing took place was in the context of civil war. This assertion is likewise false, since 250,000 Armenians served in the Ottoman army. Indeed, Armenian soldiers prevented the capture of one of the Ottoman leaders, Enver Pasha, after his defeat in battle by Russian troops. [35]
Most of the massacres were carried out by ordinary police, although a 'Special Organisation' was established, made up of common criminals released on condition that they murdered Armenians. [36] Furthermore, even the Russian Armenians were massacred in the Ottoman assault of 1918 - 15,000 Armenians were massacred in Baku. Armenian refugees were used for bayonet practice. [37] In fairness, it should be noted that many Arab villages in Syria aided the Armenian refugees, and some Muslim religious officials protested about the policy. [38] Turkey still denies the historicity of the genocide. Hitler justified his policies on the ground that the world did nothing when the Ottomans massacred the Armenians, so they would do nothing to stop his plans for those peoples he wished to eliminate.
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Conclusion
The massacres of Muslims carried out by the Greeks in 1821 and later by other Balkan peoples as they attained their independence were as indefensible as those committed by the Muslims on the Christians. However, there are distinct nuances to those committed respectively by the Greeks and other Balkan peoples in the 19th century and those by the Khilafah. The Greek massacres bring shame on Greek nationalism, rather than Christianity; it was in the name of the former, rather than the latter, that such outrages were committed. Moreover, the Greeks were not a Government, but an insurgent group (obviously, this does not apply to massacres effected when the Balkan provinces had become states). The massacres committed by the Khilafah, however, are of a different character. Not even the Greeks would claim the divine inspiration of Greek nationalism, and few would now justify the massacres. Muslims, however, precisely believe the Khilafah to be divinely ordered, and that jihad is indeed divinely inspired. It was in the name of the Khilafah and jihad that the genocide was committed.
Furthermore, the Khilafah was the legal government of the Greek and other Balkan peoples; it had a duty to defend, rather than exterminate its subjects. This raises two problems for Muslims seeking the revival of the Khilafah: firstly, a Government that believes it is legitimate to commit massacres in the name of religion is scarcely an attractive concept for those who might be its victims; secondly, because the Khilafah is considered as divinely ordered, Muslims are left defending the idea that God ordered the massacre of innocent women and children because of their religion.
The problem is that the Greek massacres simply demonstrate the universal condition of moral depravity – original sin – that Christianity holds is true of all humanity. True Christians would in no way defend such actions. At any rate, Christians do not hold Greek nationalism (or any nationalism) to be divinely inspired. Muslims, on the other hand, cannot state this about the Muslim massacres. They were ordered by the Khalifah in the name of jihad – i.e. Islam. Hence, whilst all genuine Christians would unswervingly condemn the Greek massacres, Muslims would find it difficult to reciprocate.
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References
Smith, Michael Llewellyn, The Fall of Constantinople, in History Makers magazine No. 5, (London, Marshall Cavendish, Sidgwick & Jackson, 1969) p. 189.
Smith, The Fall of Constantinople, p. 189.
Smith, The Fall of Constantinople, p. 189.
Smith, The Fall of Constantinople, p. 190.
Smith, The Fall of Constantinople, p. 190.
Smith, The Fall of Constantinople, p. 192.
Stokes, Gwenneth and John, Europe 1850-1959, (Longman, London, 1966 & 1969), p. 129.
http://imia.cc.duth.gr/turkey/chro.e.html 1999.
Earle, Peter, Vienna 1683, in History Makers magazine No. 6, (London, Marshall Cavendish, Sidgwick & Jackson, 1969) p. 261.
Earle, Vienna 1683, p. 261.
Stokes, Europe 1850-1959, p. 143.
Fisher, H. A. L., A History of Europe, (Edward Arnold, London, 1936 & 1965), p. 726.
Peacock, H. L., A History of Modern Europe, (Heinemann, London, 1971), p. 216.
Peacock, A History of Modern Europe, p. 218.
Peacock, A History of Modern Europe, pp. 218-219.
Peacock, A History of Modern Europe, p. 219.
Fisher, A History of Europe, p. 882.
Peacock, A History of Modern Europe, p. 219.
Fisher, A History of Europe, p. 881.
Peacock, A History of Modern Europe, p. 220.
Ye’or, Bat, The Decline of Eastern Christianity under Islam, (Associated University Presses, USA, 1996), p. 191.
Fisher, A History of Europe, p. 881.
http://aina.org/martyr.htm#1743 1999
"In Asheetha, Zinger Beg with a force of 400 Kurds practiced the most barbarous cruelties upon the villagers of Tyari. The Assyrians bore his tyranny patiently for some time, but finally decided to put an end to it and decided to attack the garrison. They slew twenty of their numbers and besieged the remainder for the space of six days. On promising that they would immediately surrender and evacuate the fortress they were supplied with water by the Assyrians, when suddenly defying their besiegers a fresh conflict succeeded. In the midst of these renewed hostilities a company of 200 cavalry arrived from Badr Khan Beg, and turned the fortunes of the day. The Assyrians, taken by surprise, were completely routed, no quarter was given, and men, women, and children fell in one common massacre. The village was set on fire, and three bags of ears were cut off from the wounded, the dying, and the dead. And sent as trophy to Badr Khan Beg. All the chiefs of Tyari were killed in the massacre, besides thirty priests, and sixty deacons, Mar Shimoons’s brother Kasha Sadok, and his nephew Jesse, and many of his relatives. In the month of October 1846, a united force of Badr Khan Beg and Noorallah Beg entered the Tkhooma district, and committed ravages too horrible to be related. During the invasion 300 hundred women and as many children were brutally put to the sword in one indiscriminate slaughter; only two girls who were left for dead on the field escaped to relate the sad tale of this horrible tragedy.
The Kurds then attacked the men, who had taken up a most disadvantageous position in a valley, where they were soon surrounded by their enemies, and after fighting bravely for two hours gave up the contest. Numbers were killed in attempting to escape, and as many as one hundred prisoners, mostly women and children, were afterwards taken from the houses, which were then fired by the Kurds, as were the trees and other cultivation in the neighborhood. These unfortunate victims were then brought before Noorallah Beg and the lieutenant governor of Jezeerah, as they sat near one of the churches, and heard their doom pronounced by those blood-thirsty barbarians: Make an end of them’, said they. A few of the girls, remarkable for their beauty, were spared, the rest were immediately seized and put to death" (Nestorians and Their Rituals, pp. 370) http://aina.org/martyr.htm#1743 1999
http://aina.org/martyr.htm#1743 1999
Stokes, Europe 1850-1959, p. 205.
Peacock, The Making of Modern Europe, p. 232.
Peacock, The Making of Modern Europe, p. 195.
Fisher, A History of Europe, p. 1040; Stokes, Europe 1850-1959, p. 205.
Stokes, Europe 1850-1959, p. 206.
Stokes, Europe 1850-1959, pp. 209-210.
Stokes, Europe 1850-1959, p. 211.
Peacock, The Making of Modern Europe, (4th edition, Heinemann, London, 1971), pp. 267-268.
Peacock, The Making of Modern Europe, p. 268
Lang, D. M., and Walker, C.J., The Armenians, (Minority Rights Group, London, 1987), p. 7.
Lang, and Walker, The Armenians, p. 8.
Lang,, and Walker, The Armenians, p. 8.
Lang,, and Walker, The Armenians, pp.7-8.
case closed
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