Special project: “The Armenian Genocide: Breaking the Silence”. Ordinary implementers- children and women

Ahead of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide Aysor.am presents a special project within which we shall consider cultural, scientific and social projects implementing these days.

Aysor.am talked with Hasmik Grigoryan who is a researcher of the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute. She is the author of the article "Armenian genocide" ordinary "implementers. Functional characteristics of children and women."

- Hasmik, there are many studies on Genocide, but your chosen theme was rather specific. Why did you decide to address just to the ordinary perpetrators of the genocide, particularly children?

- First and foremost, I would like to note that the study of Muslim society’s various sections participation in implementation of Genocide is timely ahead to the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide and Turkey's ongoing denial of it. By profession I am a cultural which dictated to display not only a historical approach on the subject.

Thus the idea of this study arose: one of the cornerstones of the Turkish denial is that the Armenian Genocide was perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire and now the Republic of Turkey is not its successor. In this context, the military and paramilitary structures of the Ottoman authorities are accused in what has happened. That's why we wanted to show that actually all the layers of society have had their participation in it. Perhaps there was no attempt in the Armenian genocide to bring the subject of "ordinary" perpetrators in to the academic field. Surely, there were references to history and oral conversations.

- What sources have you used for your article?

- As I am lucky to work in Genocide Museum-Institute since I have been a student, I must say that our library's collections are very rich in both printed memories and handwritten memoirs of genocide survivors. Naturally, I started from there. In addition I have used philologist Vergine Svazlyan’s collected memoirs, as well as the recently published three volumes of the Armenian National Archives. It's important because it's the memories collected in 1916, 1917. Actually they are fresh as people closely represent the reality.

- Your article also refers to the genocide "ordinary" perpetrators, particularly for the international response concerning children’s actions. How do these organizations consider the acts of children carried out the genocide?

- In general, according to international criminal law, children participating in the genocide, military operations or other crimes against humanity are not considered criminals. It is well known that children are those under 18 years of age. However, it should be noted that approximately 5,000 children (14 years of age) participating in the Rwandan genocide were arrested. These are UNICEF's 2002 findings and 4000 children were imprisoned in that moment. Overall, international criminal law seeks to consider the children as victims from the point of state forcible crime involvement view. These children are not treated as criminals. I have chosen a few groups of children considered as villains in the context of the Armenian Genocide in Ottoman Empire. I should note that the children's participation was not officially organized. In many cases, children were also armed in Hamidian massacres since 1894-1896 and we can say that it somehow was controlled by the state. I haven’t met armed children during the studies of Armenian Genocide. They usually just follow their parents participating in the massacres. So men went to massacre, shoot, robe, and the women went to take the theft and also took part in the killings, revealed the hidden places of Armenians and they made the children participants in all of this.

Interestingly, there was also intergroup clash between Armenian and Muslim children. It is known that Muslim families used many Armenian children as workforce, slaves. When Armenian children took cattle to graze clashes between Armenian, Turkish, Kurdish children continued. There is an interesting episode in my article: the Armenian and Turkish children accidentally find human bones. Turkish children turning to the Armenians say “here are your "gyavurner’s" bones”.

- Insisting that Armenians are traitors and organizers of riot and at the same time spreading conflict and hostility among the adults is much easier than among children. How do the children grown up together become enemy?

- First of all, the deepening animosity boasts family. The child may not realize the state ideology, inter-ethnic clashes. So mostly children participated in the genocide, as I said, just imitated their parents' conduct, accepting it as supreme truth.

- I came up to an interesting idea, you have mentioned that for the Genocide is not enough just to work at the state level. Genocide can be achieved only with the participation of all segments of society. Don’t you think that it is much more advantageous for us to show exactly these "ordinary" perpetrators of the Genocide to the world?

- I'm not a lawyer, but as a citizen I think that actually we have nothing to prove. The world knows that this is the Genocide and another thing is that Turkey does not admit it. There are many evidences: many testimonies of missionaries worked in the Ottoman Empire at that time in which the reality of those years was called Genocide. Another issue is the rooted in denial.

- What kind of civic position do you have beside your study and scientific research? What do you expect from our country and Turkey ahead to the 100th anniversary of Genocide?

- As an Armenian I think that we must not expect Turkey to recognize Genocide. But I would like the Information mark to refer to our inner society and to our young generation. Eventually we must come out of victimhood. Unfortunately Genocide frequently is associated with Tsitsernakaberd and April 24. Moreover a huge amount of people in our society is not aware of the mechanisms and reason of Genocide implementation. Very often we say that we have not protected ourselves and have been killed. I want to announce that it is not so. The men have resisted as much as they could: even a day or an hour. On the way of migration even the women have resisted. We must understand that we are not victim with bowed heads. As for mechanisms we must know that everything was officially planned: firstly come the mobilization, arrest and disarmament of men then the transmission of women and children. And people, however, have tried to resist even when their houses were disgorged from the knives.

The project was prepared with the assistance of the Information and Analytical Center of the Armenian Government Staff.