The Wall Street Journal should be ashamed of their advert denying the Armenian Genocide

I am a fourth-generation descendant of an Armenian Genocide survivor.

What is an Armenian Genocide?

The atrocities committed against the Armenian people of the Ottoman Empire during WWI are called the Armenian Genocide. About 1.5 million Armenians were killed during the massacres of 1915. And on April 24th, 2016 the Armenians all over the world will commemorate the 101st remembrance year of the Armenian Genocide – the day Ottoman authorities rounded up, arrested, and deported about 250 Armenian intellectuals and community leaders from Constantinople to Ankara, the majority of whom were eventually murdered.

The Armenian Genocide memorial complex on the hill of Tsitsernakaberd in Yerevan, Armenia

I am a fourth-generation descendant of an Armenian Genocide survivor.

The author

As long as I remember myself, I know about the Genocide. You can see the memories of it in the eyes of any Armenian. It’s impossible to forget. Stories come from the survivors and pass through generations. I could always see some deep sadness in the eyes of my grandfather. Once I’ve asked him to tell me the story of his family. And he did…

“My grandfather’s family was from Agulis, Nakhichevan. It used to be a very developed region, with beautiful churches and monasteries, surrounded by orchards and vineyards. My grandfather, Mkrtich, had 10 sons and a daughter. It used to be a very big and a very happy family … until one day Turks entered their hometown… They beheaded Mkrtich… Then they found my grandmother, and asked where all of her children are. She didn’t tell them… And they killed her too… in the yard of the Armenian Church. Later, it turned out that they killed seven of my uncles, and they savaged my aunt, Aurora, who was only 13-years-old. Only the three brothers (among whom was my Dad, Mekhak) managed to escape and they settled in Eastern Armenia – which is now known as Republic of Armenia.”

Mkrtich Srapionyan, my-great-great-grandfather, who was beheaded during the Armenian Genocide

Mekhak Srapionyan my great-grandfather, a survivor of the Armenian Genocide

I saw tears in the eyes of my 70-year-old grandfather. He saw tears in my eyes.

And as you can guess, many Armenian families have a similar story. The Armenian diaspora, which is estimated to be around 11 million, was largely formed as a result of the Armenian Genocide of 1915, when the Armenians living in their ancestral homeland in Western Armenia (now in Eastern Turkey) were systematically exterminated by the Ottoman government. And only three million people live in Armenia.

Recognition of the Armenian Genocide

This week, The Wall Street Journal recently published a full-page advertisement from a group denying the Armenian Genocide. Lots of online media later criticized this action, including Huffington Post. It’s a shame allowing Genocide denial ad and compromising its integrity.

The advert in the Wall Street Journal

By now, 27 countries and 29 states of the USA have official recognized the historical events of 2015 as a genocide.

Then-senator and presidential candidate Barack Obama once said: “The Armenian genocide is not an allegation … but rather a widely documented fact.” Today, Obama marked the anniversary of the Ottoman Turks’ massacre of 1.5 million Armenians in 1915, but once again stopped short of labeling it genocide. So, have the facts changed?

Denial and silence about the Armenian Genocide is unacceptable. The actual recognition of genocide (not to be confused with the research for the determination of the same) is not an academic issue but a legal one. It is legal because it is subject to international as well as national laws, which are needed in order to prevent repetitions of this crime and to punish the guilty. And at the very first place, Turkey should apologize for the acts of their ancestors instead of developing new tactics of the denial propaganda.

William Saroyan, an Armenian-American writer, wrote in his short story “The Armenian and the Armenian”:

“Send them into the desert without bread or water. Burn their homes and churches. Then see if they will not laugh, sing and pray again. For when two of them meet anywhere in the world, see if they will not create a New Armenia.”