Armenian genocide - Essay Example

Armenian Genocide Lecturer: A huge population of Armenia children succumbed to harsh hardships in the Armenian genocide because the Ottoman Empire ordered slaughter of all Armenian above the age of five years. Some of the children during the genocide were burnt alive while others were drowned or even poisoned; moreover, others died from the lack of food as others succumbed to diseases. Owing to the Armenian Genocide, thousands of Armenian children became orphans propelling others to convert to Islam in order to survive. Extensive operations carried out to burn children at a large scale occurred in Bitlis province were many Armenian women as well as children were burnt alive. Moreover, mass burning of children took place in Der Zor as orphans gathered into large orphanage buildings where they were pushed to out of the city and doused with petrol before being set ablaze (Dadrian, 2003).
Poising of children was also implemented during the genocide because survivors indicate the way Armenian orphans in Agn and Khapert provinces were poisoned through arrangements with local pharmacist. Equally, a huge number of Armenian children were killed through drowning at the lower end of Euphrates River in Deir zor where orphans were thrown into the river with their hands and feet bound. Besides other orphans during the genocide were picked by Arab Turks and Kurds who adopted the children and transformed them to Islam. Moreover, orphaned children in some orphanages were converted to Islam; however, after the genocide effort through organizations and individuals facilitated rescuing of thousands of children. Besides, children who survived the genocide had many difficulties to overcome and trials in reaming faithful to their nationality and religion (Dadrian, 2003).
Large portions of Armenian children together with other segments of Armenian population in Ottoman Empire succumb to hardships associated with treks of unending series of deportation to desolate deserts Mesopotamia. Moreover, a sizeable fraction of Armenian children became victims of the vast arrangement of massacres across the Ottoman Empire that was atrocious. Thousands of female children were immersed into the Turkish society as servants or even as genuine wives following their conversion to Islam. Moreover, after the genocide many other children languished in orphanages because of victimization (Dadrian, 2003). The horrors of the disaster left deep and permanent marks on the surviving children because the children had powerful sense of belonging to a national community of the surviving group. Moreover, immediately after the genocide, the surviving Armenian children formed hatred toward the supporters of the misery and terror; even though, they survived. Immediately after the genocide children were referred to as spoils of war, slaves, or even as sex slaves. Therefore, although the children after the genocide were not physically destroyed, they were transferred from one group to another with the aim of altering their national identity. This is evident as Turkish authorities collected thousands of children on their way to exile and placing them in establishments in order for the children to receive education characterized by stringent disciplinary codes aimed at converting the children to Islam. These establishments were available across the Ottoman Empire (Tachjian, 2009).
References
Dadrian, V. N. (2003). Children as victims of genocide: the Armenian case. Journal Of Genocide Research, 5(3), 421.
Tachjian, V. (2009). Gender, nationalism, exclusion: the reintegration process of female survivors of the Armenian genocide. Nations & Nationalism, 15(1), 60-80. doi:10.1111/j.1469-8129.2009.00366.x Read More