Armenia Genocide Vs Crusades

In my family there is no such an artifact handed down. Something however that will be remembered through my family is the Armenian Genocide of 1915. My grand father Sarkis Kalustian, comes from Armenia. In which

at the time his father moved his whole family out to the United States in order to flea the Turkish persecution."We moved in order to be Americans, My father served in Army and I served in the Marine Corp in World War 2" these are the words of my grand father. My grandfather was part of the first wave of Armenians that came to america. He is also a prime example of how they acted upon their

arrival. The Armenians were quick to accept the fact they were Americans. They were proud to be able to say so. However at the same time they were proud to keep their

culture and preserve what they could.

Even though they were considered second class citizens and were given more taxation then the rest of the Turkish citizens, Armenians and Turks were able to coincide in the Ottoman Empire peacefully for hundreds of years. However with the idea of Nationalism becoming a strong force upon all the European Contries. Turks dreamed of a country that spread all the way into asia and the Christian Country of Armenia were all that separated

it. So it became a secret agenda of the Nationalistic Turks to get rid of the Armenians. In the 1890's Sultan Abdul Hamid II ordered pogroms that left hundreds of thousands Armenian's dead. This was at the same time laws were being passed to give Armenian's better treatment.

During World War One the Turkish government saw the window to get rid of the Armenians. On April 24th 1915 they gathered all the Armenian Leaders at a summit where they were executed. This day is now the official day of rememberence for the Armenian Genocide. The leaderless nation of Armenia was left vulnerable and easily fell into the Turks plan. With all the Armenian men drafted for the war effort. The turks then demanded guns from all the villages for the war effort also. Later the Trukish government said they had those guns because they were planning to rebel against turkey. This fueld a campaign of hatred toward the Armenian communities. Now with the villages being left with only women, children, and the elderly. This made setting the Armenian people into death marches easily done. The armenians that were able to survive the march were then slatered in the desert and those who where able to escaped