Armenians And Syria 1915 and 2013

Abstract

This brief article takes as its starting point a parallel drawn by the British journalist Robert Fisk between the suffering of Armenians during the First World War and the suffering of Armenians during the current conflict in Syria. The author draws other parallels: between the manipulation of the Armenians and other ethno-religious groups to serve the interests of the entente powers between 1914-18 and the human consequences of intervention in present day Syria by western governments and their regional allies. Indeed, the entire Middle East and North Africa has been an arena for western intervention since early in the 19th century. The author looks at key events from the unfolding of the ‘Armenian question’ through to the Greek invasion of western Anatolia in 1919, carried out under the aegis of the victorious wartime powers and ending in disaster for both Anatolian Turks and Greeks. The article challenges the historical division drawn between the perpetrators of violence and the victims of violence, showing that both were to be found in virtually all ethno-religious groups in what was at the time the most destructive war in world history. The author sees the acknowledgment of this reality as the true foundation of reconciliation between groups still clinging to deeply polarized historical narratives.