the Armenian genocide

I decided to speak to my dad about my topic, the Armenian genocide, since he was the person to originally suggest it to me. I showed my dad gripping pictures of the genocide. He was surprised to find out that not only was the genocide a series of massacres, but there were also detention camps in the center to the desert. Detention camps as terrible as Auschwitz, before its conception. My dad was also shocked by the scale of the event, around two million dead. I told my dad ,"I am still surprised that people are still denying this even happened." My dad knew about the genocide, and was aware of the Turkish government's denial, although wasn't surprised by the thought of this he was saddened. My dad said, "...that [the genocide] was a series of massacres in different cities and towns." He wasn't aware of how systematic the genocide really was. The death marches, remote detention camps, systematic killings, and the shooting down of navy vessels carrying Armenians. In summary according to my dad, "they de humanized the Armenians." My dad wasn't aware of long the genocide occurred. He was stunned about, "How similar the initial response of the Armenians to the Turks was to the German Jews to the Nazis." Throughout my research I strived to find out, "How the Turkish government came about killing 1.5 million people unnoticed, and how personal stories from survivors shape this image?"  

Armenian massacres occurred before the initiation of the genocide and World War I, these killings were by the Ottoman Empire. Soon the Young Turks party gained control of the once Ottoman Empire during World War I, and became focused on nationalism. The CUP a subgroup of the Young Turks is often acreddited to planning the systematic take down of the Armenians. The CUP begins their demise of the Armenians on April 14, 1915. Prominent Armenians leaders are rounded up from their homes to be killed, this action taken by the CUP is an attempt to eliminate rebellion with the CUP ulterior motives are realized by Armenians. After the killing of over 200 Armenians authority figures, other steps are taken on a larger scale to eliminate the empty threat the Armenian people pose on the Turkish government. Many Armenians are exiled, forced into the boxcars of trains never to return or in death marches towards detention camps in the Syrian desert. The first hand account written in the Armenian Golgotha, by Grigoris Balakian, paints a clear picture of life in detention camp. Most Armenians are simply murdered or left to stave. Towards the end of the genocide many Muslim families forcibly adopted Christian Armenians and involuntarily imposed Islam on them. Many girls above the age of twelve were sold as slaves and sex slaves. Many Armenians fled the country an headed to the United States, many of them live in the Los Angeles area today. Turkey still actively denies the systematic slaughter of the Armenians, often using the excuse that during times of war many innocent lives are lost in the crossfire. During World War I and during it's aftermath more than one million Armenian lives were systematically taken by Committee of Union and Progress, or the CUP, their forced journeys toward death are documented in personal accounts and photographs. These recordings create a strong web of evidence against those who appose the reality of the genocide.