Summary
As the 100th anniversary of the death of 1.5 million Armenians comes around Turkey is faced with more than the usual accusations and arguments. Pope Francis has come out and called the events of 100 years ago a genocide but surprisingly the US President Barrack Obama has done as the Turks do and did not refer to it as such. This adds to the frustration the Armenians face as places such as Varagavank, an Armenian Monastery, continue to fall into disrepair and ruin. Armenians are now calling it a cultural genocide as unfulfilled promises by the Turks have seen monasteries made into mosques or Turkey not coming through with properly repairing and upkeeping these historical buildings.
Analysis
100 years later and the Turks still refuse to call the actions that everyone else in the world sees as genocide as not genocide and deflects to earlier conflicts between the Armenians and the Turks before the end of the Ottoman empire. It also seems to be a great disrespect to convert monasteries that many would consider to be priceless historical artifacts into a usable mosque or a museum. It's almost similar to other Muslim dominated nations calling the holocaust a hoax. It's the most disappointing that the US president would be unwilling to call it how it is while the Catholic Pope, a man who has spent his career trying to mend religious bridges, is more than willing to call it out.
Source
http://www.religionnews.com/2015/04/23/eve-anniversary-turkeys-cultural-genocide-armenian-history-ongoing/
No comments:
Post a Comment