House Bill 4493 would require public schools in Michigan to teach about the Armenian Genocide, which claimed the lives of 1.5 million Armenians, and the Holocaust during World War II, involving the death of six million Jews and five million others. The bill passed the state House of Representatives on Feb. 23, and on Tuesday it passed the state Senate Education Committee. It now goes before the full Senate.
Many historians say the genocide took place in 1915 during World War I. They say the Ottoman government, which ruled what is now Turkey, carried off a campaign to systematically kill off the minority subjects, the Armenians. Some people of Turkish descent have opposed the bill, saying there was never a "genocide," and that Turkish Muslims and Armenian Christians died in intercommunal violence during World War I. The Turkish government has been fighting against the use of the word "genocide" in a battle played out around the world. Last year, Pope Francis declared it the first genocide of the 20th Century, which brought stern condemnation from Turkey.
Ara Topouzian is a lifelong Metro Detroiter and a member of the local Armenian community. He writes about why it's important for Lansing lawmakers to pass the bill.
By Ara Topouzian
When I was 10 years old in elementary school, our teacher asked us to do a report on our ancestry.
There was a large map on the wall and each student had to go up and circle the country of their ancestry. It was my turn to approach the map and I was looking for Armenia. It was not there. I told the teacher that my ancestors lived in Historic Armenia which was inside Turkey. The teacher had never heard of Armenia or Armenians and her simple, but uneducated response to me was “Well, just do your report on Turkey.”
As a 10-year-old, I didn’t know what to say or how to respond, I simply went home and told my parents that since the teacher never heard of Armenia, I was supposed to write about Turkey as it was “close enough.” Fair to say, my parents were not pleased and called the teacher to give her a short explanation. The next thing you knew, I was writing a report about being Armenian.
Ara Topouzian
I am almost certain that I am not the only Armenian to ever tell a similar story, however, this can be changed so that not another Armenian child has to educate a teacher about their heritage.
I am a second generation Armenian-American.
My paternal grandmother escaped the Armenian Genocide with her brother when she was eleven years old. The Genocide occurred in 1915 and took the lives of 1.5 million Armenians. Families were ripped from their homeland and forced to march to their ultimate death. Every April 24th, Armenians from around the world commemorate and remember the massacres. Each and every living Armenian has been affected by the Genocide. Everyone has a story. Everyone lost someone.
Last year, the Armenians commemorated the 100th year since the Genocide took place. Armenians and non-Armenians around the globe expressed themselves through music, poetry, demonstrations, and events. Yet, a year this could have been if the Armenian Genocide was taught in our public schools.
House Bill 4493 can correct this. Our students are taught both World War I and II, these should include two of the most heinous events in world history: the Armenian Genocide and the Jewish Holocaust.
Twenty-nine countries and 43 states in the United States recognize the Armenian Genocide. In fact, there are 11 states that now require schools to teach the Armenian Genocide. Those who have not recognized the Genocide are fearful of Turkey’s threats of economic retaliation.
An empty threat as it is a proven statistic that those countries which recognized the Armenian Genocide, there was increased trade with Turkey. According to Census data, U.S. trade with Turkey increased by more than 10 times since President Ronald Reagan, on April 22, 1981, cited the Armenian Genocide in a Presidential proclamation. Twelve countries saw increases in trade with Turkey from 6 percent to 174 percent.
Last year, the State of Michigan recognized the actions of Ottoman Turkey in 1915 against the Armenian population as Genocide under MCL 435.281. In 2000, The Vatican recognized the Armenian Genocide and in 2015, Pope Francis expressly stated that the deaths of the 1.5 million Armenians under Ottoman Turkey was the first genocide of the 20th Century.
The evidence that the Genocide occurred is overwhelming. American Ambassador to Constantinople Henry Morgenthau Sr., spoke out against the Ottoman Empire for the mass killings. In a telegram he wrote to the Secretary of State in 1915 he described the massacres of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire as a "campaign of race extermination.”
Armin T. Wegner was a German soldier and medic during World War I and witnessed the Genocide and documented the atrocities with photograph. These have become the “core witness” of the Armenian Genocide.
The New York Times has documented the Armenian Genocide with headlines such as “Armenians are sent to perish in desert” (8/18/1915) and “Millions of Armenians Killed or in Exile” (12/15/1915). These are just a few of the dozens of articles written about the Genocide.
This was not a civil war as the Turkish government and its proponents will lead you to believe; it was Genocide. It was one sided, purposeful and one nation has attempted to cover it and deny it ever since.
There are 50,000 Armenians living in Michigan. By studying the Armenian Genocide and the Jewish Holocaust, Michigan students will understand the world and the people around them.
