Our Mission

With the passage of time and the diminution in numbers of persons with 'living memory' of the Genocide, comes the risk that that the power of a visual basis for understanding will fade. Access to documentation, photographs, and symbols of remembrance are not always within the easy grasp of those who do not actively seek out information about their historical heritage. It is certainly neither a question of 'easy access' for those not ethnically-motivated to learn more; in the malevolent words of Adolf Hitler, "who, after all, remembers the Armenians?"

Countless Armenian artists, musicians, and intellectuals suffered and perished in unimaginable ways, in the first single, pre-meditated mass extermination and violation of basic human rights of the 20th century. They, along with hundreds of thousands of men, women and children were wiped off the face of a nation. They, who committed no crime other than having had the wrong religion in the wrong place, at the wrong time. Armenian Christians in the Ottoman Empire in 1915.

With their passing has followed decades of frustration, unacknowledged anger, and for some - a slow but steady disintegration of the 'pictures in our heads', inevitable with the passage of time. For others, a tremendous sense of fortitude has emerged - in the survivors and descendants of families in Diaspora and in Armenia.

Thanks to the admirable work of Armenian intellectuals, policy-makers, religious leaders, and above all - families - the history of the annihilation of 1.5 million Christians is not forgotten. That said, there has never been a better time to reach out, to pool the extraordinary young talents and passion of the descendants of survivors from across the world, and to make a peaceful, powerful statement.

The Armenian Genocide was carried out by the "Young Turk" government of the Ottoman Empire in 1915-1916 (with subsidiaries to 1922-23). One and a half million Armenians were killed, out of a total of two and a half million Armenians in the Ottoman Empire. Most Armenians in America are children or grandchildren of the survivors, although there are still many survivors amongst us. Armenians all over the world commemorate this great tragedy on April 24, because it was on that day in 1915 when 300 Armenian leaders, writers, thinkers and professionals in Constantinople (present day Istanbul) were rounded up, deported and killed. Also on that day in Constantinople, 5,000 of the poorest Armenians were butchered in the streets and in their homes.

The Armenian Genocide was masterminded by the Central Committee of the Young Turk Party (Committee for Union and Progress [Ittihad ve Terakki Cemiyet, in Turkish]) which was dominated by Mehmed Talât [Pasha], Ismail Enver [Pasha], and Ahmed Djemal [Pasha]. They were a racist group whose ideology was articulated by Zia Gökalp, Dr. Mehmed Nazim, and Dr. Behaeddin Shakir. The Armenian Genocide was directed by a Special Organization (Teshkilati Mahsusa) set up by the Committee of Union and Progress, which created special "butcher battalions," made up of violent criminals released from prison.

Some righteous Ottoman officials such as Celal, governor of Aleppo; Mazhar, governor of Ankara; and Reshid, governor of Kastamonu, were dismissed for not complying with the extermination campaign. Any common Turks who protected Armenians were killed.

The Armenian Genocide occurred in a systematic fashion, which proves that it was directed by the Young Turk government. First the Armenians in the army were disarmed, placed into labor battalions, and then killed. Then the Armenian political and intellectual leaders were rounded up on April 24, 1915, and then killed. Finally, the remaining Armenians were called from their homes, told they would be relocated, and then marched off to concentration camps in the desert between Jerablus and Deir ez-Zor where they would starve and thirst to death in the burning sun.

On the march, often they would be denied food and water, and many were brutalized and killed by their "guards" or by "marauders." The authorities in Trebizond, on the Black Sea coast, did vary this routine: they loaded Armenians on barges and sank them out at sea.

The Turkish government today denies that there was an Armenian genocide and claims that Armenians were only removed from the eastern "war zone." The Armenian Genocide, however, occurred all over Anatolia [present-day Turkey], and not just in the so-called "war zone." Deportations and killings occurred in the west, in and around Ismid (Izmit) and Broussa (Bursa); in the center, in and around Angora (Ankara); in the south-west, in and around Konia (Konya) and Adana (which is near the Mediterranean Sea); in the central portion of Anatolia, in and around Diyarbekir (Diyarbakir), Harpout (Harput), Marash, Sivas (Sepastia), Shabin Kara-Hissar (?ebin Karahisar), and Ourfa (Urfa); and on the Black Sea coast, in and around Trebizond (Trabzon), all of which are not part of a war zone. Only Erzeroum, Bitlis, and Van in the east were in the war zone.

The Armenian Genocide was condemned at the time by representatives of the British, French, Russian, German, and Austrian governments—namely all the major Powers. The first three were foes of the Ottoman Empire, the latter two, allies of the Ottoman Empire. The United States, neutral towards the Ottoman Empire, also condemned the Armenian Genocide and was the chief spokesman in behalf of the Armenians.

The American people, via local Protestant missionaries, did the most to save the wretched remnants of the death marches, the orphaned children.

Despite Turkish denial, there is no doubt about the Armenian Genocide. For example, German ambassador Count von Wolff-Metternich, Turkey's ally in World War I, wrote his government in 1916 saying: "The Committee [of Union and Progress] demands the annihilation of the last remnants of the Armenians and the [Ottoman] government must bow to its demands."

German consuls stationed in Turkey, including Vice Consul Max Erwin von Scheubner-Richner of Erzerum [Erzurum] who was Adolf Hitler's chief political advisor in the 1920s, were eyewitnesses. Hitler said to his generals on the eve of sending his Death's Heads units into Poland, "Go, kill without mercy . . . who today remembers the annihilation of the Armenians."

Only one Turkish government, that of Damad Ferit Pasha, has ever recognized the Armenian genocide. In fact, that Turkish government held war crimes trials and condemned to death the major leaders responsible.

The Turkish court concluded that the leaders of the Young Turk government were guilty of murder. "This fact has been proven and verified." It maintained that the genocidal scheme was carried out with as much secrecy as possible. That a public facade was maintained of "relocating" the Armenians. That they carried out the killing by a secret network. That the decision to eradicate the Armenians was not a hasty decision, but "the result of extensive and profound deliberations."

This, like any other movement or initiative, has come from a single idea in the mind of single person. The realization of this initiative will be impossible without the collaboration and help from persons whose hearts and minds are touched by the importance of acknowledging all aspects of the Armenian historical legacy. Please do not hesitate to get involved and to support this first-of-its-kind cause - with photographical evidence, documentary evidence, institutional support, and intellectual feedback - anything that could have a bearing on the success of this campaign.

Above all, financial support is absolutely critical for the survival of this effort. Please help the mobilization of this unique project, so that it may be constructive in working in conjunction with existing efforts towards realizing the same goal.

Help this 'living' project to get off the ground and give to the world what thousands of words cannot and have not: a picture in our minds to remember. A picture that the world cannot help but see. A picture that makes each person who sees it feel the importance of Genocide recognition.