Tweet
Armenian Genocide reminder of evil and call to vigilance: expert
February 14, 2015 - 18:00 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net - The genocide of Armenian Christians almost exactly
100 years ago provides a graphic reminder of evil and a call to
vigilance, since Christians across the Middle East still suffer
persecution, an expert on the atrocity told Dallas Baptist University
audiences, the Baptist Standard reports.
Artyom Tonoyan, the grandson of Armenian Genocide survivors, described
the massacre of his people and current implications during the annual
T.B. Maston Lectures at DBU earlier this week.
Armenians, who populated part of modern Turkey, originated as a
political entity between 3,000 and 4,000 years ago, noted Tonoyan, a
lecturer at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities' Institute for
Global Studies and a research associate at East View Information
Services in Minneapolis. He is a graduate of DBU and Baylor
University.
Armenian society and culture rose and fell several times across the
centuries, Tonoyan said. Their pilgrimage to Christianity began in the
first century B.C., when the apostles Bartholomew and Thaddeus
traveled to Asia Minor and told them about Jesus. They became the
first to embrace Christianity as a state religion in 301 B.C., more
than a decade before Rome.
But with the rise of Islam, "Armenian civilization underwent an
existential crisis," he added. "Armenians were forced to islamize."
The Ottoman Empire, which fully embraced Islam and dominated the
region for most of the second millennia, discriminated against the
Armenian Christians, he said. For example, Armenians could not own
firearms and were barred from representation in court. They were not
allowed to own horses or build a home taller than their Muslim
neighbors' houses.
During the final throes of the Ottoman Empire in the 18th and early
19th centuries, "Armenians were singled out as cancerous" and a
"parasitic entity," he said. Young Turkish leaders found the Armenians
offensive because, despite political discrimination, the Armenians
prospered financially and controlled the Ottoman economy.
Shortly after the Ottoman Empire entered World War I, on April 24,
1915, the empire launched a horrendous siege against its Armenian
residents.
Authorities rounded up practically every Armenian leader--"poets,
doctors, professors, composers, teachers"--in a purge that predated the
Jewish Holocaust by decades.
About 400,000 Armenian men were killed almost immediately. Elderly
men, women and children were rounded up, their property confiscated,
and forced on a "death march" into the same desert where the Islamic
State dominates today, Tonoyan said. The marches pushed them to the
geographical and political edges of the empire.
Five thousand Armenian villages were destroyed, he said. Hundreds of
churches were confiscated and converted to mosques, stables and
restaurants.
"Our own family was cut down," Tonoyan said. Ottomans forced his
grandfather, then a boy, to watch the rape of his own mother and
sister. The last image Tonoyan's great-grandfather saw before his
murder was the rape of his wife and daughter.
Even though the Armenian Genocide occurred a century ago, Christians
around the world, and particularly in the Middle East, are being
persecuted today, he said. Some of the persecuting countries, such as
Saudi Arabia, are strong U.S. allies.
"This is the greatest ethical dilemma facing the American Christian
church," he said. "What are we to do as Christians? Sit back and
relax, ... or do something? Christians are dying for their faith by the
hundreds and thousands. I cannot keep silent."
U.S. Christians should start by praying for their persecuted fellow
Christians in hostile regions of the world, Tonoyan urged. He also
called on Christians to insist their senators and representatives pay
attention to persecution and demand change.
"Please, whatever you do, do not remain silent," he pleaded. "Your
brothers and sisters need you."
http://www.panarmenian.net/eng/news/188291/
https://www.baptiststandard.com/news/texas/17478-resist-religious-persecution-grandson-of-armenian-genocide-survivors-pleads
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
February 14, 2015 - 18:00 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net - The genocide of Armenian Christians almost exactly
100 years ago provides a graphic reminder of evil and a call to
vigilance, since Christians across the Middle East still suffer
persecution, an expert on the atrocity told Dallas Baptist University
audiences, the Baptist Standard reports.
Artyom Tonoyan, the grandson of Armenian Genocide survivors, described
the massacre of his people and current implications during the annual
T.B. Maston Lectures at DBU earlier this week.
Armenians, who populated part of modern Turkey, originated as a
political entity between 3,000 and 4,000 years ago, noted Tonoyan, a
lecturer at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities' Institute for
Global Studies and a research associate at East View Information
Services in Minneapolis. He is a graduate of DBU and Baylor
University.
Armenian society and culture rose and fell several times across the
centuries, Tonoyan said. Their pilgrimage to Christianity began in the
first century B.C., when the apostles Bartholomew and Thaddeus
traveled to Asia Minor and told them about Jesus. They became the
first to embrace Christianity as a state religion in 301 B.C., more
than a decade before Rome.
But with the rise of Islam, "Armenian civilization underwent an
existential crisis," he added. "Armenians were forced to islamize."
The Ottoman Empire, which fully embraced Islam and dominated the
region for most of the second millennia, discriminated against the
Armenian Christians, he said. For example, Armenians could not own
firearms and were barred from representation in court. They were not
allowed to own horses or build a home taller than their Muslim
neighbors' houses.
During the final throes of the Ottoman Empire in the 18th and early
19th centuries, "Armenians were singled out as cancerous" and a
"parasitic entity," he said. Young Turkish leaders found the Armenians
offensive because, despite political discrimination, the Armenians
prospered financially and controlled the Ottoman economy.
Shortly after the Ottoman Empire entered World War I, on April 24,
1915, the empire launched a horrendous siege against its Armenian
residents.
Authorities rounded up practically every Armenian leader--"poets,
doctors, professors, composers, teachers"--in a purge that predated the
Jewish Holocaust by decades.
About 400,000 Armenian men were killed almost immediately. Elderly
men, women and children were rounded up, their property confiscated,
and forced on a "death march" into the same desert where the Islamic
State dominates today, Tonoyan said. The marches pushed them to the
geographical and political edges of the empire.
Five thousand Armenian villages were destroyed, he said. Hundreds of
churches were confiscated and converted to mosques, stables and
restaurants.
"Our own family was cut down," Tonoyan said. Ottomans forced his
grandfather, then a boy, to watch the rape of his own mother and
sister. The last image Tonoyan's great-grandfather saw before his
murder was the rape of his wife and daughter.
Even though the Armenian Genocide occurred a century ago, Christians
around the world, and particularly in the Middle East, are being
persecuted today, he said. Some of the persecuting countries, such as
Saudi Arabia, are strong U.S. allies.
"This is the greatest ethical dilemma facing the American Christian
church," he said. "What are we to do as Christians? Sit back and
relax, ... or do something? Christians are dying for their faith by the
hundreds and thousands. I cannot keep silent."
U.S. Christians should start by praying for their persecuted fellow
Christians in hostile regions of the world, Tonoyan urged. He also
called on Christians to insist their senators and representatives pay
attention to persecution and demand change.
"Please, whatever you do, do not remain silent," he pleaded. "Your
brothers and sisters need you."
http://www.panarmenian.net/eng/news/188291/
https://www.baptiststandard.com/news/texas/17478-resist-religious-persecution-grandson-of-armenian-genocide-survivors-pleads
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress