Armenia is one of the Caucasian countries. You know, wedged in between Russia & Iran and the Black & Caspian Seas. It's one of the first areas to make Christianity a state religion (in 301 AD). However, they're one of those smaller countries that has largely been able to survive via playing off its larger neighbors (the Russian, Persian, & Ottoman Empires) against each other.
That hasn't always been enough, however. I would like to discuss the Armenian genocide. This took place during the First World War, when the Ottoman Empire systematically killed somewhere between 300,000 & 1,500,000 Armenians, allegedly because they were sympathetic to the Russians and the other members of the Triple Entente. Previous to World War 1, the Armenian people had been subjected to pogroms by the Ottomans, so admittedly they weren't very interested in wholeheartedly following the Sultan into the maw of destruction that would result. Most Armenians at the time lived in the region that later on would contain the independent state, but many also lived in the cities further west. In the end, it didn't matter. All of the usual atrocities were committed: rape, torture, murder, forced marches. Although, because it was the industrialized 20th century, innovation in inhumanity abounded. For instance, children were gassed in school buildings. Other examples: cramming them into railroad cars and deliberate injection of typhoid. Often, the crimes were committed by a group of people that really should have known better: the Kurds. I guess the karma from these actions is helping to prevent independence for them.
So now we fast-forward to the present day. Armenia borders a total of four countries: Iran, Azerbaijan, Georgia, & Turkey. Any connection to the rest of the world has to go through these countries. Georgia periodically becomes somewhat off-limits whenever it has a kerfuffle with Russia. Iran has good relations with Armenia but, as sanctions against it tighten, Tehran cannot be a very good conduit for products to Yerevan. Azerbaijan, well, let us just say that it will be decades before it manages to have anything resembling normal relations with Armenia.
That leaves Turkey. And Turkey refuses to admit that there was a genocide committed against the Armenians (and the Assyrians, and the Greeks of Asia Minor [or was that merely ethnic cleansing?]) In fact, denying the Armenian experience of World War 1 seems to be a major point of Turkish pride. Turkey has gone to great lengths to produce media coverage that is sympathetic to its position that the mass murder of Armenians over 90 years ago by the government of the Ottoman Empire has been overstated to large extant. It has purchased advertisements in large North American newspapers. It has given "economic consideration" to historians to try to prove its case. Alright, we get it, Ankara. You feel as though your national pride is being besmirched. Because modern day Turkey has been a friend to the West, it has been incredibly difficult to get governments that ostensibly care a lot about human rights to simply state that there was a genocide of the Armenian people. To this day, only around 22 countries have recognized the slaughter. The United States is not one of them. However, 43 American states have done so.
Perhaps you, dear reader, have noticed my efforts to continually use the name "Ottoman Empire" wherever applicable. This is consistent with an idea that I have to perhaps assuage the ego of the Turks while simultaneously normalizing relations between Armenia & Turkey. This Armenian Genocide was not committed by Turkey. It was actually performed by the Ottoman Empire. See the difference? Turkey = Asia Minor (Anatolia). Ottoman Empire = Algeria to Iraq to Budapest. Turkey is the name of the successor state of the Ottoman Empire, but it doesn't have to be guilty of the acts of the Ottomans. Turkey is a modern state; the Ottoman Empire has been consigned to the dustbin of history. Please, Ankara. Please read these words and make a little more peace in the world by treating Armenia with friendliness.
