‘We’ll never forget’: Discussing the Armenian Genocide

Mirijanian hosted the event on April 23 in the Sarah and Daniel Opperman Auditorium. During the event, Mirijanian discussed the history of genocides of Armenian citizens from the Hamidian Massacres, the 1915 Armenian Genocide and the Nagorno-Karabakh conflicts.

“If someone breaks into your house, and kills you, kills everyone who looks like you, your friends, your family, what do you call that?” Mirijanian asked the audience. 

Beginning his discussion, Mirijanian posed another question, “What is genocide?” 

The word wasn’t invented until 1944 during World War II by Raphael Lemkin. Mirijanian said that because its invention was after the 1915 Armenian genocide, it wasn’t recognized. He mentioned that Lemkin used the Armenian Genocide as a reference point when initially creating the term. 

“This is such a big genocide and people barely talk about it,” Mirijanian said. “I mean in 2019 the U.S. just recognized it as a genocide.”

On April 24, 2021, President Joe Biden declared the Ottoman Armenian massacres as genocide.

Mirijanian said that to say when Armenian genocide began is complicated because there are multiple increments. He said it’s been ongoing from 1890 to 2024. 

History of the Hamidian Massacres and the Ottoman Empire

Mirijanian said Armenians have had their home in the Caucasus for roughly 3,000 years. He said Armenia was also one of the first countries to adopt Christianity as its national religion. 

During around the time of the 11th to 12th century, Mirijanian said the Ottoman Turks invaded the Armenian Highlands and formed the Ottoman Empire. From the time of the 15th to 16th Century Armenia was brought under the Ottoman Empire's rule.

In 1894, Mirijanian said Armenians were held with very high taxation in the Ottoman Empire because they were Christian. He said when Armenians refused the taxes, Sultan Abdul-Hamid II, the ruler of the Ottoman Empire, wanted to deal with this problem.

“This was by attacking Armenian villagers helpless with no weapons, raping, killing and pillaging their villages,” Mirijanian said. “The consequences of these killings led to around 100,000 to 300,000 Armenians killed.”

In 1908, Mirijanian said Sultan Abdul-Hamid II was overthrown by a new national political party called the “Young Turks.” Under the assumption of guaranteed basic rights, Mirijanian said that Armenians agreed to help in the revolution of the Ottoman Empire. 

The Armenian Genocide of 1915

During World War I, Turkey allied with Germany and Austrian Hungarian Empire and was losing against the Allied Powers. During the time, Mirijanian said those who followed Christianity such as Assyrians, Greeks and Armenians, were targeted due to religious differences.

On April 24, 1915, the Armenian Genocide began. According to the University of Minnesota, Turkish authorities arrested around 250 Armenian intellectuals because of “fear that the Armenians were in league with Russia, the Ottoman Empire’s historic rival, and could serve as a potential fifth column.”

Mirijanian said the first to be killed were Armenian leaders. He said the scholars, priests and men would be killed, and the women and children would be targeted in death marches.

According to the Encyclopedia, “The term 'death march' signifies the physical action by which the gathered persons are then lined up and marched to certain mass death.”

Mirijanian said that among death marches, Armenians were starved, drowned, put through concentration camps and forced into labor where refusing resulted in death. 

He said 1.5 million Armenian citizens were killed during this genocide and that the Turkish government continues to deny it today. 

Turkey's Ministry of Foreign Affairs recognizes the mass killings of Armenian citizens done by Ottoman Officials but does not claim the deaths as genocide. 

Conflicts of Nagorno-Karabakh 

In 1923, the Soviet Union established what was known to Armenians as Artsakh and home to an estimated 95% of the ethnic Armenian population as a part of the Soviet Socialist Republic of Azerbaijan, known as Nagorno-Karabakh. 

With a long history of ethnic tension between Azerbaijan and Armenia, Mirijanian claimed in 1988 ethnic cleansing was brought against individuals of Armenian descent.  

He said in 1991, Nagorno-Karabakh declared independence from the Soviet Union becoming its own republic. 

After becoming a republic, Mirijanian said that Nagorno-Karabakh held a vote for independence from Azerbaijan with about 99% of ethnic Armenians voting for it. Mirijanian said an all-out war broke out between Azerbaijan and Armenia. 

According to the Council of Foreign Relations (CFR), the first Karabakh war resulted in roughly 30,000 casualties and hundreds of thousands of refugees while Armenia gained control of 20% of the territory. 

In 1994, a joint ceasefire was arbitrated by Russia, but tensions remained between both sides, according to CFR. 

During the Nagorno-Karabakh’s second war in 2020, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), there were more than 6,000 deaths. From a population of 120,000 ethnic Armenians, Mirijanian said 50,000 fled and had around 250 prisoners of war (POWs).

After 44 days, Russia reinforced a ceasefire and Azerbaijan claimed a majority of the territory. According to the CFR, recurring violations of the 2020 ceasefire continued and conflict escalated.  

In December of 2022, Mirijanian said a 10-month blockade was imposed on the road connecting 

Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia where 120,000 ethnic Armenians couldn’t retrieve essential goods such as food, fuel and medicine. 

He said schools closed due to the absence of heating and electricity with almost 30,000 children attending. He said due to shortages of medicine and supplies hospitals also suspended surgeries.

On Sept. 19, 2023, with the fear of persecution, Mirijanian said that the 120,000 ethnic Armenian population fled their homes during an Azerbaijan military offense. He said that Nagorno-Karabakh was regained under full control of Azerbaijan.

“That made me really mad,” Mirijanian said, “A lot of my family is from there.”

Al Jazeera’s journalist Osama Bin Javaid, reported that "Just a fraction of the population remains in this enclave where people have been assured that they will not be persecuted by Azerbaijani forces as they take control of these areas."

Mike Mirijanian, Andre Mirijanian’s father, said there are a lot of things involved with why ethnic Armenians fled their home. 

“It’s not like a regular situation where you have a couple of people that were kind of in a quarrel and they just resolve their issue," Mike said. 

“It’s a matter of life and death as well,” Andre said. 

On April 19,  2024, Armenia agreed to return four villages to Azerbaijan with both countries calling it an important milestone as they edge toward a peace deal.

With this ongoing conflict, Mike said there doesn’t seem to be an end. He said that many Armenians disagree with the Armenian government’s agreement with Azerbaijan and that the elected Armenian government president is failing to provide security.

“The hopes that these Armenians have of actually achieving a lasting and meaningful peace were shattered by the person that they picked,” Mike said.

Andre said that there are only around three million Armenians living in Armenia today. 

“A lot of our culture tends to get lost during these mass movements in such a short amount of time,” Andre said. “I consider myself an example of this.”

The importance to learn, educate and remember

Before the start of this event, pins were handed out with the imprint of the forget-me-not flower. Andre said that this symbolizes the remembrance of the Armenian Genocide, meaning “We’ll never forget.” 

Mirijanian mentioned the monument of Tsitsernakaberd in Armenia. Inside is the Eternal Flame, part of the memorial of the Armenian Genocide. He said the pillars all represent the regions and villages that were victims of genocide.

“One of the biggest things is just nobody knows about (Armenian genocide),” Mirijanian said.

He said by doing this event he hopes for it to open up people’s minds to what is going on outside the U.S. He said with more people knowing, they’ll take action to help.

“That’s what we’ve been fighting for, for so many years,” Mirijanian said. “If I do this, it’ll be a big step.” 

He mentioned that only 14 states teach the Armenian Genocide as a primary example. He said there’s more to the story and that schools need to speak more about the Armenian genocide as well as the Holocaust.

“This is a big topic and I think it needs to be talked about a lot more,” Mirijanian said. “What happened, beginning, middle, end, consequences to the present day.”

Mirijanian said with this event, he knew he wanted to do something big to really bring Armenian students at CMU together. 

Toward the end of the presentation, there was more information on how to help, such as speaking with elected officials at ANCA or helping to donate to refugees to the Armenian Relief Society.

“Talk to anybody who will listen,” Mirijanian said. “You guys can make a difference. Your voices are powerful … with your voices, you can make anything happen.”