History Poems
Remembering the Armenian Genocide 1915
Please share this poem freely in support of Armenia’s ongoing struggle to receive a full acknowledgement from the world, and from Turkey, of the genocide of 1915. Also, watch the video of the song released to commemorate the 101st anniversary of the genocide.
24th April 2016 marks the 101st anniversary of the crime, yet the survivors have continued unto death, dealing not only with the original genocide of their race, but with the ongoing denial of the crime itself. They need peace.
Rest in peace, we shall remember. We shall never let it go,
For your death deserves acknowledgement: The whole world needs to know.
Long denied, unjustified: a devastating genocide.
A generation lost and gone, and yet the world just carried on.
Rest in peace, we shall remember. It’s the least that we can do
For a race that had to start again; the world remembers you.
Hear the claim, and take the blame! Yes, Turkey: You must bear the shame!
Armenians were lost and gone, and yet the world just carried on.
Rest in peace at your memorial. Your suffering and pain:
It can never be forgotten! IT MUST NOT OCCUR AGAIN.
As they mourn, the truth must dawn:
A country had to be reborn.
So Turkey, though the years have gone,
Please let Armenia move on.
The past is gone. The present, now,
Must recognise the crime somehow.
It was not ‘just an act of war,
Like many others gone before’.
Apologise for those that died:
DO NOT DENY THE GENOCIDE!
Express regret for all those who
Were never born, because of you.
Unite with us and share their grief.
Accept the truth, and bring relief.
I cannot claim to be an expert, (I am ashamed to say that I had never heard of this part of history until I received Hratsjuhi’s email and began my attempt to understand their suffering) so please google the Armenian genocide to find out more as I have done. Meanwhile, here are a couple of websites to start with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armenian_Genocide and
In short, the Armenian race was almost wiped out (1 and half million were killed, and the surviving 500,000 or so were dispersed and hence many are now of mixed heritage and are scattered throughout different countries.) Sadly, they all therefore have a family tree that is devastated by the genocide in the same way that the holocaust devastated the Jews, but the Armenians still struggle to have their slaughter officially acknowledged as genocide by Turkey, and so feel unable to move on and heal as a race: they need to feel heard, understood and acknowledged.
In 2015, as the hundred year anniversary approached, the pope officially referred to their slaughter as genocide (http://www.wsj.com/articles/pope-francis-calls-armenian-slaughter-first-genocide-of-20th-century-1428824472), (the European Parliament labelled it genocide in 1987) but UK and America still stop short of using the word, presumably because of political delicacies.
At the 100 year anniversary of the official start date of the genocide (24 April 2015) Hratsjuhi Aramian, a Belgian-Armenian classical singer, contacted me and asked me to help with the English words of a song written to raise world awareness on the subject and to help Armenians feel heard and understood, hence the need for English words to the song. This song and video has now been released and can be watched below. Please watch it to understand something of the plight of the Armenian people (There are English subtitles until the point that it is sung in English) It is very sensitively and graciously appealing for recognition of the horrors that they suffered.
Hratsjuhi needs help sharing the video to raise awareness for their plight as a race, and I feel a duty to speak out on her behalf, as I can only imagine the pain of 100 years of being ignored and passed by, and effectively having your families deaths and horror stories treated as insignificant, when not a single Armenian can have gone unaffected. I hope that you will see, as I have, that this is not about shame, or retribution, but is a gracious appeal to be heard, understood and have the truth of their history acknowledged so that the victims of the slaughter, and of the century of denial, can finally rest in peace, and be healed to move into Armenia’s future.
Please be educated, as I have needed to be, and then share the video if you feel able, if only to help Hratsjuhi and her race feel heard.
Thank you so much.
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