Huffpost: Word ‘genocide” invented because of Armenian slaughter (video)

April 24, 2016 - 12:39 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - The United States recently declared ISIS guilty of genocide against the Yazidis and other ethnic groups within its conquered territory. No doubt, the rape and enslavement of Yazidi women, in addition to the slaughter of Yazidi men and the horrors inflicted upon other minority groups, constitute genocide. To ignore the ISIS rampage in Syria and Iraq as anything but genocide, would be to erase the untold suffering and death of its victims, an article published at the Huffington Post said.

“Thus, the meaning of a word, especially when it defines the inhumanity of mass slaughter and immeasurable human suffering, is important. In this case, the word “genocide” was invented by Yale Professor Dr. Raphael Lemkin while trying to find a way to describe the mass slaughter of the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire. Furthermore, Dr. Lemkin was clearly stating “it happened to the Armenians.” The word, and Dr. Lemkin’s role in creating this word, is described in a New York Times piece titled Questions and Answers About the Armenian Genocide.

Therefore, any notion of a debate regarding the murder of 1.5 million Armenians is simply a political smokescreen. The genocide happened; it happened to the Armenians, and the man who invented the word acknowledged this fact. If anything, the word was invented because of the slaughter of the Armenians. If anyone needs to hear from the Yale professor who created the word, he’s on a CBS video from 1949.

While geopolitics has prevented the United States from using the word, there’s no doubt that the Armenian Genocide is a historical fact.

While it has no problem publicizing modern genocides, as it should, the world is still waiting for the U.S. to use the word “genocide” when describing the Armenian Genocide. Sadly, the most powerful nation on the planet doesn’t yet have the moral fortitude to acknowledge fully what the Armenians experienced,” the article said.

The Armenian Genocide

The Armenian Genocide (1915-23) was the deliberate and systematic destruction of the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire during and just after World War I. It was characterized by massacres and deportations, involving forced marches under conditions designed to lead to the death of the deportees, with the total number of deaths reaching 1.5 million.

The majority of Armenian Diaspora communities were formed by the Genocide survivors.

Present-day Turkey denies the fact of the Armenian Genocide, justifying the atrocities as “deportation to secure Armenians”. Only a few Turkish intellectuals, including Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk and scholar Taner Akcam, speak openly about the necessity to recognize this crime against humanity.

The Armenian Genocide was recognized by Uruguay, Russia, France, Lithuania, Italy, 45 U.S. states, Greece, Cyprus, Lebanon, Argentina, Belgium, Austria, Wales, Switzerland, Canada, Poland, Venezuela, Chile, Bolivia, the Vatican, Luxembourg, Brazil, Germany, the Netherlands, Paraguay, Sweden, Venezuela, Slovakia, Syria, Vatican, as well as the European Parliament and the World Council of Churches.