Today marks 101 years since the day that three hundred Armenian officials, writers, and educators in Constantinople (present day Istanbul) were taken from their homes, tortured, and killed. This was followed by mass arrests of Armenian men throughout the country. Many were shot in front of their families (this included adolescent men), and the rest were tied together with ropes and forced to the outskirts of their towns where they were then massacred by death squads that were accompanied by local Turks and Kurds. Women, children, and the elderly were ordered on short notice that there were to pack a few belongings and be ready to leave home under the pretext that they would be relocated to a "non-military zone" for their own safety. However, these innocent Armenian civilians were instead being taken on death marches toward the Syrian desert. These marches lasted months through mountains and other wilderness terrain. These Armenian women, children, and elderly were denied food or water and any who stopped to rest were severely beaten until they rejoined the march. Between 1915 and 1923, an estimated 1.5 million out of 2 million Armenians in the Ottoman Empire were killed. April 24th is the day of remembrance for the Armenian Genocide. Despite countless attempts to erase the Armenian people and their history from this earth, Armenians are still here, standing united against the enemy, defending their people, culture, and ancestral homeland until death. “I should like to see any power of the world destroy this race, this small tribe of unimportant people, whose wars have all been fought and lost, whose structures have crumbled, literature is unread, music is unheard, and prayers are no more answered. Go ahead, destroy Armenia . See if you can do it. Send them into the desert without bread or water. Burn their homes and churches. Then see if they will not laugh, sing and pray again. For when two of them meet anywhere in the world, see if they will not create a New Armenia.” - William Saroyan
