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Thinking about the Genocide

I care about the Armenian Genocide because it wiped 1.5 million souls off the face of the earth. I care because it has been largely forgotten and ignored.

I care because my great-grandfather, Avedis Yeretzian was a medical doctor in Keysarii, Turkey at the end of the 19th Century. When an epidemic struck, the other doctors left town. He remained, risking his own life to treat those who were ill: both Turkish and Armenian. He received a medal for his bravery.

In 1895 Turks attacked the Armenians in that city. Some of the same people who survived because of my great-grandfather's work - his own patients - surrounded his home and began to fire guns at the house. This mob set the house on fire and butchered my family as they tried to escape the flames. Only my five-year-old grandfather and three of his sisters escaped. The rest of the family and neighbors perished.

Later, a citizen of the city told my grandfather that he knew who had led the mob and would kill them. My grandfather, still a young child, told him "No! I was sad to have my father die. Do not make other little boys sad by killing their fathers."

I care about the genocide because the story of my own family was repeated over a million times AND THE WORLD HAS IGNORED IT! Until this genocide is remembered and repented of by the global community, we will have more: The Holocaust, Yugoslavia, Rwanda - what's next?

In my heart I forgive the Turks who butchered my family. But I do not trust a nation that cannot admit the darkness of its past.