Starving Armenians

When I was a little girl and wouldn't eat my food, my mother would tell me to 'think of the starving Armenians'.  

Not until much later did I learn that there had actually been 'starving Armenians', and that what had happened to them was no joke. On April 24 100 years ago, hundreds of Armenia’s political, religious, and intellectual leaders were rounded up in Istanbul by the Ottoman Turks and then deported to Turkey’s interior, where they were executed. According to the University of Minnesota’s Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, in 1915 there were over 2 million Armenians living inside Turkey. By 1922, less than 400,000 had survived.

While in Azerbaijan,  I learned of a recent war that I had not heard of before.  The war was between Azerbaijan and Armenia and lasted from 1988 to 1994. It was fought over disputed territory. 

As we strolled through a cemetery where both soldiers and civilians from this war are buried, our Azerbaijani guide was quick to point out the atrocities committed by the Armenians against his people.  His stories were chilling. 

This general's tomb gives the impression of a tank.  

The tombstones were especially haunting as we looked into the faces of the dead. 

So young, really just a boy.. 

Among the tombstones I did find one woman who was killed.   Our guide mentioned one 'really old woman' who was killed in the fighting.  A really old woman of 65!  Later in the day, after I had easily climbed the 141 steps to the top of a tower, I pointed out to him that I too was 65.  He said that he would be more politically correct when he told the story of woman who was killed....and not call her 'really old'!

I found all of this so interesting. First I had no idea of the animosity that still exists between the Armenians and the Azerbaijanis.  They really don't like each other at all.  And I was reminded of what an insulated life we live in the US.  Also was a good reminder of how we tend to see things from our 'side'.  I knew about the atrocities of the Ottoman Turks to the Christian Armenians but not what the Armenians had done to the Muslim Azerbaijanis.  Just a reminder of how biased reporting can be.

 I don't know the full truth about the war between these two groups.  I know that what I heard from our guide in Baku was totally from his point of view and if I had discussed it with our guide in Armenia (which I did not), I would have gotten a totally different perspective.  

The best information I could find about this war.  40,000 people died in a war I never even knew had happened. 

Armenian side: 5,856 soldiers killed, 20,000 soldiers wounded, 196 soldiers missing. 1,264 civilians killed (excluding the 1,000 Armenian civilians killed in Azerbaijan), 400 civilians missing

Azerbaijani side: 30,000 soldiers killed, 50,000 soldiers wounded, 4,210 soldiers missing. 763 civilians killed, 749 civilians missing (all of whom were released by Armenian authorities)

Overall estimate: 40,000 people killed in total.