The 2015 marks the 100th anniversary of the genocide of the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire. At the beginning of 1915, there were approximately 2 million Armenian people living in what is now present-day Turkey. The organised, systematic elimination of the Armenian people began in that year, resulting in the deaths of 1.5 million, while several hundred thousand survived by fleeing to other countries. This year presents an apt opportunity to remember these events.
The Armenian Community in Ireland have assembled an exhibition of photographs from this period. The exhibition goes on display in the Cork City Library exhibition space in Grand Parade, Cork, from Monday 16th of November for two weeks. The exhibition is entitled “The Iconic Images of the Armenian Genocide”. The exhibition will be launched by the Lord Mayor of Cork in the library on Monday 16th of November at 6.30pm. The honorary consul for Armenia in Ireland will attend.
The exhibition consists of a reproduction of old photographs which tell the story of how the genocide was carried out, and what happened to those who fled. It presents a unique opportunity for the people of Cork to see other aspects of World War 1, even as we remember what happened to Irish people during those dark days. The awareness and recognition of the genocide is also very much a continuing concern for Armenian people today. The exhibition has many echoes in the current events unfolding in the Middle East, and in the current exodus of so many to Europe.
In Ireland we rightly remember what happened in WW1 in places such as Gallipoli and Suvla Bay, where many Irish suffered and died. But we should also be aware of what was described by Theodore Roosevelt in 1918 as “the greatest crime of the (first world) war, …the failure to deal radically with the Turkish horror means that all talk of guaranteeing the future peace of the world is mischievous nonsense.”
This is an important and emotional year for the Armenian community in Ireland and worldwide, as they remember and commemorate what happened to their family antecedents in those dark times of 1915-18. The people of Cork can share in this remembrance, by viewing the exhibition in the City Library, Grand Parade, Cork, from Monday 16th to Friday 27th of November.
