Peter
Balakian, a professor of English and creative writing at Colgate University,
is known for his writing and works about the Armenian genocide,
which occurred between 1915 and 1918 during and right after World War I in what
is now mostly Turkey. The government of the then-Ottoman Empire put to death
between 800,000 and 1.5 million Armenian men, women, and children. Other
indigenous and Christian peoples were targeted as well, but the Armenians bore
the brunt.
And it was during
this genocide that systematic murder, death marches, concentration camps, rape,
and confiscation of property became official government policy, something the
Nazi government in Germany perfected and the Serbian army in Bosnia emulated.
In fact, the word “genocide” was coined in 1943 specifically to describe what
happened to the Armenian people. The Turkish government today continues to deny
that this genocide actually happened.
To continue
reading, please see my post today at Tweetspeak
Poetry.
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