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The Case For Helping Syria's Children-One Hundred Years Ago

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  • The Case For Helping Syria's Children-One Hundred Years Ago

    THE CASE FOR HELPING SYRIA'S CHILDREN-ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO

    The Atlantic
    Aug 30 2013

    Images from a century ago, advocating for American aid to children in
    Syria and Turkey after they became victims of genocide Emma GreenAug
    30 2013, 12:12 PM ET

    One hundred years ago, when the United States faced a choice to
    become involved with a human rights crisis in territory now divided
    into Syria, Turkey, and Armenia, we chose to stay out. After ethnic
    Armenians were massacred by the Ottomans during World War I, President
    Wilson urged Congress to help the remaining population establish a
    country of their own. But, claiming that the American public wouldn't
    support such an intervention, Congress said no.

    Spooky, isn't it?

    On the night of April 24, 1915, Ottoman soldiers arrested more than
    200 ethnic Armenian leaders and intellectuals in the empire's capital
    city, Constantinople. The men were later executed at a prison in
    inner Anatolia, which is part of modern-day Turkey. Over the next
    seven years, an estimated 1.5 million Armenians died during death
    marches through the Syrian desert, mass executions, and epidemics at
    the open-air camps where they were held, many of which were located
    in what is now called Syria.

    Americans in the region raised money to feed, clothe, and house
    Armenian refugees, including orphans whose parents were killed in the
    massacres. One organization, the American Committee for Armenian and
    Syrian Relief, raised millions of dollars through rallies and church
    collections. One fundraising campaign called for $5 million "to relieve
    1,000 destitute, exiled, and starving Armenians scattered broadcast
    over Turkey, Persia, Syria, and Palestine," the New York Times reported
    in 1916. In 1919, the organization was incorporated by Congress into
    Near East Relief, and today, it is known as the Near East Foundation.

    The imagery used in these fundraising campaigns is chilling. A 1917
    campaign for $30 million paired illustrations of women and children
    with pleas for help. On one poster, Americans were reminded to think
    of "The Child at Your Door: 400,000 Orphans Starving and No State
    Aid Available."

    Archival photographs show the organization's efforts to relocate
    orphans. "Like little French soldiers," one reads. "Some of the
    children being moved from Turkey to Greece to the American Near East
    Relief. In Constantinople, the children were outfitted in light blue
    uniforms which made them look like miniature French soldiers."

    President Wilson strongly supported the organization's efforts to
    provide relief to the region's refugees, and at the conclusion of
    World War I, he argued on behalf of American intervention in the
    Armenian case. "Have you thought of the sufferings of Armenia?" he
    said in June of 1919. "You poured your money out to help succor the
    Armenians after they suffered; now set your strength so that they
    shall never suffer again."

    Wilson's solution was an American mandate for Armenian, meaning
    the United States would be responsible for helping the new country
    establish a government and deal with the repatriation of hundreds of
    thousands of refugees. According to a New York Times report, the U.S.

    would have also had to provide two to four military regiments "to exert
    a steadying effect upon the native population," as well as guidance
    for creating infrastructure for transportation and sanitation. This
    mandate failed to get support in Congress, however, and the United
    States ultimately decided not to participate at all in partitioning
    the former Ottoman Empire into new countries.

    Of course, it is impossible to equate a century-old genocide that was
    tied up in an international war with today's situation in Syria. It's
    also worth noting how national borders have changed throughout the
    complicated history that followed; modern-day Armenia lies to the
    north and east of Syria, and the two countries are separated by Iraq,
    Iran, and Turkey.

    Still, this echo of the past is uncanny -- and very, very sad.

    See posters at
    http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/08/the-case-for-helping-syrias-children-one-hundred-years-ago/279178/


    From: Baghdasarian
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