99 - all you should know about the Genocide April, 2014 | Page 101

considered God-pleasing work. This is a creed,
based on which it is possible to build empires,
grab new territory and increase the population.
This is an action for which future generations are
grateful to you and sing your glory, remembering
your name with pride. This is the reason why
the mullah at the Arakelots monastery in Kars is
proud to sing namaz every day. That is the reason
why the Surb Karapet in Mush was destroyed,
and why the sign at the entrance to Ani is utterly
devoid of any mention of the Armenians. It is not
enough for the newcomer to occupy the land.
He has to destroy the history of the nations that
lived there since ancient times, and remove all

ARMENIAN HISTORICAL AND ARCHITECTURAL
MONUMENTS REMAINED STANDING IN WESTERN
ARMENIA AFTER 1923 – 464 OF THESE HAVE
VANISHED COMPLETELY, 252 ARE IN RUINS AND
197 NEED COMPLETE RENOVATION (BASED ON
DATA FROM UNESCO IN 1974)

traces of their existence. This is a holy mission in
Turkey and Azerbaijan.
What do I feel, standing within the city walls of
the holy capital of Ani? Pain? Regret? Tears or
regret have no value here. The most important
thing I feel here, which should be a lesson to me,
is shame. National shame, that I have lost all of
this. It is not something that some individual has
lost in the past. Fortune is not to blame, neither
is Turkish ferocity. Diplomatic failures were not

ARMENIAN ORPHANS WERE RESCUED FROM
BEING FORCIBLY CONVERSION TO ISLAM,
SLAVERY AND ASSIMILATION THROUGH THE
“1 ARMENIAN, 1 PIECE OF GOLD” MISSION

behind it, nor was the geo-political situation.
These are all excuses which can be used to soften
the sense of shame. The real reason is that we did
certain things we should not have done, and we
did not do the things which we were obliged to do.
And I stand today in the ruins of Ani. Before me
lie the things that my grandfathers have built and
lost. I am responsible for all this. I am the one
who realizes the mistakes of the past and who
will not allow them to happen again in the future.
I am the Armenian who turned the Valley of the
Armenians into the birthplace of our nation. I
am the Armenian who built and developed the

THIS WAS THE YEAR THAT THE YOUNG TURKS
CAME TO POWER IN CONSTANTINOPLE AFTER
A REVOLUTION. THE ARMENIAN POLITICAL
ELITE WAS L ARGELY ENTHUSIASTIC ABOUT
THESE EVENTS

Armenian highlands. I have looked at Masis from
the fortress of Erebuni centuries ago. I fought
powerful Turkish forces ten times in number
in 1918, and won. Two years later, I handed the
impregnable Kars without a shot being fired. I
am the Armenian of the 21 st century, who bears
the history of millennia under his chest. I am
the Armenian who will one day reclaim the holy
right to all that he has created, built, borne and
dreamed.

PEOPLE FELL VICTIM TO THE MASSACRE
OF THE ARMENIANS ORGANIZED BY THE
OT TOMAN SULTAN ABDUL HAMID II FROM
1894 TO 1896