Divvying up the Ottoman Empire (week 9)

We discussed the shady secret treaties of the early twentieth century in which European countries followed imperialistic agenda in the Middle East, and Zionism in politics. A long list of treaties and promises were mentioned, but mostly involved Europeans maneuvering for more land and unfortunately leaving Arab leaders, such as Sherif Husayn, with vague promises that were never fulfilled. They used a language of prejudice and superiority, European nations promising to assist emerging Arab nations in the formation of their governments.
The documentary about the Armenian genocide helped me to further understand the issue, giving faces to the large number murdered and displaced. The circumstances of the deportation were brutal- people went on six day forced marches designed to exhaust and eventually kill them. The tactics used are chillingly familiar- are similar to what the Nazis would later use during the Holocaust, they even used box cars to transport some people.
I thought it was really interesting how politicians in the documentary were arguing over whether it was a genocide because there supposedly was no Ottoman intent to destroy the group and because Armenians were not ‘innocent’ victims, because they resisted. It is incredible that people can still argue over whether these civilians were deserving or undeserving of pity. The Turkish government’s official denial of the genocide is really interesting, though terrible, it is institutionalized and taught to children in school. They mentioned that the genocide was practically forgotten in Europe because it recognized ‘new’ Turkey, the formation of statehood involved rejecting Armenian experience and memory.