Armenian Genocide

        During World War I, in 1915, the Turkish government decided to have a systematic extermination of most of the male Armenian population, and the forced deportation of mostly women, children, and the elderly. The deportation became a death march. It was extremely violent and deprived people which lead them to the death. By the time the exhausted and traumatized survivors reached refuge in neighbouring countries, up to three-quarters of the entire Ottoman Armenian population had been exterminated.
        The operation was controlled by the "Young Turk" government. The "Young Turks" were racists against the Armenians. The events of World War I, Turkey allied with Germany and Austria-Hungary against Britain, France, and Russia, gave these creators of genocide the opportunity they needed to partake in their plan of wiping out all Armenians. On April 24, 1915, Armenian political leaders, writers, and thinkers were rounded up, deported and killed. Next, were men and teenagers. They were tied together into groups with ropes and taken just outside of their town where they were then shot.  The women, children, and elderly were the last to be killed. Some Armenian women and children were offered the alternative of conversion to Islam and subsequent slavery in Turkish homes, but it is generally held that only a thousand or so accepted. Those who refused were told to bring a few belongings to be relocated to a non-military zone for safety. However, they were actually being taken on death marches toward the Syrian Desert. The Armenian's had to walk there naked. Along the way they starved to death and died of hydration because they were not allowed to have food or water. Once they got to the destination they were shot and killed.
        Primary responsibility for the genocide is on the trio of Enver Pasha, Cemal Pasha, and Talat Pasha, who dominated the Central Committee of the "Young Turk" government. They planned the systematic extermination and expulsion of the Armenian population. The genocide was carried out by many thousands of Turkish officers and soldiers, along with ordinary citizens who thought  the persecution of the Armenians to be an ideal opportunity for plunder, rape, and kidnapping. Hundreds of thousands of innocent people were killed.
        My opinion on the Armenian Genocide is that it is horrifically wrong. I will never understand how one race can think that they are, in any way, better than another. We are all created equal. This genocide reminds me of Hitler and the Nazis' extermination of the Jews. In both cases people were gullible enough to believe that these people were taking them to a safe place, when in reality they were taking them to their death. People should not be killed because of their religion or race. We are allowed to believe what we want to believe and we cannot change our race. We are who we are and should not be killed because of that.