24th April marks the 100th anniversary of one of the First World War’s worst atrocities so today, I’m nominating an entire country. The genocide of over one million Armenians by the Turks, who back then were still the Ottoman Empire. The reason I’m nominating Turkey for a cunting is because instead of facing up to this crime and apologising for it, the Turks not only refuse to acknowledge their responsibility for some of the most heinous murders in history, they actually deny it even happened. Despite the eyewitness testimony and other evidence.
The reason that the Ottomans gave for slaughtering the Armenians, was that there was a war on, and the Armenians were traitors. But, as various witnesses commented at the time, the villages in which the Armenians lived were nowhere any battlefield. The true reason for this genocide, is that the Armenians were devout Christians.
One young girl, who survived the genocide told of hearing her father being tortured and murdered by Turkish “soldiers”, whilst she hid. When she came out of her hiding place, hours later, he’d had horseshoes nailed to his feet, his hands had been nailed horizontally to a wooden board with big iron spikes, he had been cut open from his abdomen to his chest, his genitals had been cut off, and he had been decapitated.
In one village, the entire muslim population watched, and laughed, as Armenian women were forced to dance. Any who fell, or were too slow, were whipped, as were their children, who were forced to clap in rhythm. Eventually, the women were doused in kerosene and set alight. Other witnesses spoke of seeing the bodies of pregnant women who had had their abdomens cut open, and their unborn babies placed in their hands. One witness wrote about seeing peasants attacking Armenian men with scythes, saws and spades.
There is so much documented evidence of this atrocity. Yet the Turkish government not only refuses to acknowledge that the genocide took place, they actually brought in a law, making it illegal to “insult Turkishness”. So strong is their desire to deny this atrocity, in the face of irrefutable evidence, that the Turkish government went into full victim mode earlier this week, Pope Francis described the atrocity as; ‘the first genocide of the 20th century’. The Turkish government slammed the ‘inflammatory’ remarks, and accuse the Holy Father of spreading ‘hatred and animosity’ with ‘unfounded allegations’. They also recalled their ambassador to the Vatican. They would prefer that we all shut the fuck up about it.
The true reason that that Turks don’t want to admit that this atrocity occurred, is that if they did, they would inevitably face claims for reparations, and also demands for the return of land and wealth stolen while the genocide was taking place. To me, this is not only cowardly, it displays an appalling arrogance, as well as a being dishonest and spectacularly dishonourable. Had this been the other way around, and Christians had savagely tortured and murdered over one million muslims, the Turks, and muslims everywhere would be screaming for justice. And this is a country that has ambitions of joining the EU. A country whose government, intelligence and security services and police and military, MAY be sympathetic to the likes of ISIS.
The fact is, most Turks, like most muslims, are an incredibly violent people who are also mentally and emotionally unstable. Until they face up to the fact that their ancestors committed one of the worst crimes of the twentieth century, they can’t expect any other nation to respect them. Also, they cannot claim to be a modern, civilised society. One more thing. The Turks traditionally hold a commemoration of Gallipoli on the 25th of April. This year, that commemoration is being held today.
Nominated by : Quick Draw McGraw
