Executive Summary

• The Armenian Genocide has been regarded by scholars as the ‘forgotten genocide’ in which its denial by the perpetrators has led to repercussions to the Armenian Diaspora in the 21st century.
• The atrocities committed by the Turkish government amidst the First World War on the Ottoman Armenians resulted in the estimated death of 1.5 million Armenians. Yet over a century later, Turkey continues to refuse to acknowledge it as genocide.
• It is argued that denial is the last stage of genocide. Denial not only neglects what happened but also affects the descendants of the Armenian genocide survivors.
• The United Nations has listed the Western Armenian language as ‘definitely endangered’ and has predicted the language will be extinct in 100 years. This is the language spoken by the Armenian Diaspora.
• Assessing the historical and ethical issues related to the denial of the Armenian Genocide, this paper will examine how the denial of genocide has had an effect on the Armenian Diaspora in the 21st century, over 100 years after the atrocities were committed.
• This paper will recommend strategies for language maintenance that could be utilized by organizations and communities to help preserve the Western Armenian language.

Introduction

The Armenian Genocide refers to the period of 1915-1924 when the Turkish government systematically killed Armenians under the Ottoman Empire. Contemporary scholars describe the atrocities committed against the Armenians as ‘a massacre that changed the meaning of the word massacre’.ⁱ Raphael Lemkin coined the term ‘genocide’ after his examination of the Armenian Genocide and defined it as ‘the destruction of a nation or of an ethnic group’. The United Nations Convention on Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide define that act as ‘any of the following acts committed with intent

to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, such as: a) killing members of a groups; b) causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; c) deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; d) imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; e) forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.’ⁱⁱ

Promises were made to persecute those who participated in the execution of the Armenian genocide, yet these were never followed through and the genocide was eventually forgotten. In addition, to this day Turkey refuses to use the ‘G word’ to describe the events that took place amidst the First World War and continues to undermine the atrocities by labelling them as ‘civil war’ stating that a great number of Turks also lost lives. These factors have affected the survivors’ identity, culture and language.

Denying one’s past is to deny one’s identity. In this case, denying the Armenian Genocide denies the identities of more than seven million diasporic Armenians scattered around the world which not only takes a toll on their culture, but also their language. The United Nations has listed the Western Armenian language, spoken by the Armenian Diaspora, as ‘definitely endangered’ and estimated to become extinct within the next 100 years.ⁱⁱⁱ The last stage of genocide, as stated by Gregory Stanton President of the Genocide Watch, is denial^iv and it is clear that Turkey’s continuous denial has affected the western Armenian language.

It is not just the acceptance from other countries that will help global recognition of the Armenian genocide and help reconciliation, but it is most importantly Turkey’s acceptance of genocide that will give Armenians a sense of closure. This paper, therefore, will first demonstrate how denial affects the Armenian diaspora and then will recommend actions that should be taken in order to preserve the Western Armenian language.

The Armenian Genocide

Under the cover of the First World War, genocide was perpetrated on the Armenians by the Ottoman government. Ordered by the new nationalist movement called the Young Turks that overthrew the Sultan in 1908, the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire were systematically subjected to deportation,

expropriation, abduction, torture, massacre, and starvation. The plan was to annihilate the Armenians because of their religious, linguistic, and cultural differences. As a result of these atrocities, approximately 1.5 million civilian Armenians perished.

During the turn of the 20th century, the Ottoman Empire was facing repetitive defeat and was on the verge of crumbling. After the Balkan Wars of 1912-13, the empire lost ‘more than 80 percent of its European lands (and nearly 70 percent of its European population) in less than one disastrous month’.^v The European Powers were closing in and the Turkish government was desperate to prevent further defeat which would lead to the collapse of their centuries old, ethno-diverse empire. As a result, the Young Turks intended to bring political reform and military modernisation, but instead of starting a liberal state, they delivered the Empire to the authoritarian group called the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) which dominated political life and planned to create a pan-Turkic Muslim majority.

The Young Turks saw Armenians as their biggest threat, not only were they Christian, but they were also affluent and had linguistic and cultural differences and were suspected of joining forces with their greatest enemy, Russia. Thus, to avoid the same fate they faced in the Balkan’s, the Young Turks systematically planned to wipe out the Armenians under the cover of the First World War. The process of genocide took many forms. Subject to their class, gender and age, Armenians faced massacres, death marches, starvation, forced conversion to Islam and loss of family members. Many survivors lost a part of their identity and culture from these processes and those who escaped their fate made up the Armenian diaspora across the world.

After the war, the Allied Powers declared that members of the Turkish government and all who planned and participated in these massacres will be held accountable. There were also numerous pledges made by world leaders for the emancipation and restitution of survivors, yet none were fulfilled. Subsequently, the first genocide of the 20th century was ‘forgotten’. In addition, until this day Turkey continues to deny the events that took place were a genocide, which not only prevents reconciliation, but also affects the collective identity of the Armenian diaspora.

The Armenian Diaspora

Those who survived the deportation, forced displacement and death marches into the Syrian Desert, had no other choice but to create new homes elsewhere as they lost and were forced out of their homeland. Armenians eventually scattered across the world, rebuilt communities and created a global Diaspora. They thrived and showed strength in their ability to survive and adapt to the culture of the host countries, keeping their traditions through their religion and language and preserving their identity without giving in to assimilation. According to the most recent United Nations data, over seven million^vi Armenians live in diaspora across 85 countries, with the biggest communities in the Middle East, United States and France.^vii

However, as time passes, Armenian communities are slowly beginning to lose their original identity as the new generation get confronted with the challenges in adapting to their hosted societies. The Armenian Diaspora today is strong and vibrant but at the same time, because of its geographic range, diverse and fragmented. As the genocide has endlessly been denied by its perpetrators, the assimilation process continues; consequently affecting the diaspora’s preservation of their Armenian identity and western language.

The Ongoing Assimilation

Assimilation has continued in the 21st century not only because denial is the last stage of genocide, but also because diasporic Armenians have lived outside their home lands for over a century now. Armenians are worried that their physical survival is at the cost of their culture and that the young generation is moving away from tradition, losing the use of the Armenian language, marrying non-Armenians and not teaching their children the language. After all, what does it mean to new generations to be an Armenian when they were born and raised in a foreign land and so were their parents?

Parallel to the forced conversion of women and children to Islam in order to destruct the Armenian nation and culture, similarities can be drawn with contemporary Armenians that marry into other cultures and choose not to teach their children the Armenian language. During the genocide, Armenians were prohibited to speak their national language in order to annihilate their identities and merge with the pan-

Turkic ideology. In the 21st century, more Armenians choose not to speak their mother tongue so that they fit in with their host societies and break down the barriers of ‘us and them’. As a result of this, the United Nations has listed the Western Armenian language as ‘definitely endangered’, meaning that ‘children no longer learn the language as a ‘mother tongue’ in the home’.^viii

Diasporic Armenians must be reminded of the importance of holding on to their indigenous culture and continuing to speak their language in order to preserve it and not let assimilation of their group carry on until it is too late, meeting the Young Turks’ ideology of Armenian destruction. To prevent this from happening, the diaspora must work together to come up with a unified and purposeful goal of preserving their ancient language and ultimately, their nation.

Suggestions and actions that should be taken to preserve the Western Armenian Language

Aside from decreasing numbers of native speakers, there are numerous factors that cause languages to be endangered. These range from: its age, use of the language by children, presence of other languages, attitude towards the language and their users’ sense of ethnic identity, government policies, job opportunities and urban drift, all of which affect the survival and preservation of a language.^ix Many languages such as Yuruti and Wappo are extinct because of the above factors. In order to avoid the same fate, Western Armenians, not only should work hard in their own homes, but within their communities and organisations to maintain their language and ultimately their collective identity.

When it comes to teaching the next generation the Western Armenian language, there are many Armenian community schools across the globe that offer this service. However, taking into consideration the K. Tahta Armenian Community Sunday School in West London, less students are choosing to attend Armenian school and the children’s proficiency in the language is decreasing as the years go on, with more students not knowing a word of Armenian before they start school.

K. Tahta school must adopt new teaching methods to encourage children and adults to attend Armenian school and make it a fun and meaningful learning experience. One where they have a personal connection to. This can be done by implementing Gulbenkian’s language revitalisation workshop which suggests: adopting ‘innovative and informal language acquisition methods, contemporary publications, and

translations of literature for children and adolescents.’^x The community school will also need to consider upgrading their curriculum and learning resources so that pupils can engage in their lessons with new interactive technologies. A digital portal is also needed to ‘enable stakeholders around the diaspora to connect with one another and share best practices.^xi

There is no room for defeatist attitudes towards the decline of the Western Armenian language as the diaspora must maintain a positive approach to educating the next generation so that their language continues to be spoken and their identities refrain from diminishing.

Conclusion

Rita Mae Brown once said, “Language is the road map of a culture. It tells you where its people come from and where they are going.”^xii Although the Armenian Genocide has not yet been globally recognised, and has subsequently been ‘forgotten’, its communities live on across the world taking their culture and language with them wherever they go. These communities must stay strong and pass on their heritage to the next generation so that they do not face ongoing annihilation and relive their ancestors’ fate. It may not be easy to do, but there is no other choice as it is their responsibility and privilege to preserve their language and identity.

References

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