If you are familiar with the Los Angeles area, you might know that LA has a significant Armenian American population. LA, especially the city of Glendale, has the largest population of Armenians in the world outside of Armenia and Russia. If you watched the Conan O’Brien show produced in LA, you might also know that Conan’s assistant, Sona, is Armenian American. Walking along Hollywood Blvd in Glendale, one would notice numerous murals depicting the Armenian Genocide Memorial in Yerevan.
The Armenian Genocide began in 1915 during WWI. According to Armenia, an estimated 1.5 million Armenians were killed by then the new Ottoman Turkish government. While the genocide has been chronicled by some historians, Turkey has a different interpretation of what happened and denied it occurred, saying the deaths of Armenians was a function of the chaos of WWI, which also claimed Turkish lives. The Turks further claim that the Russian Empire provided weapons to Armenian villagers and many Turkish villagers were killed during that same war.
Traveling in the Caucasus region provides the opportunity to learn about this event from different perspectives: While I have seen the Armenian Genocide being mentioned in Armenia and Iran, the event was denied in Azerbaijan (who currently has border dispute with Armenia in Artsakh) and of course Turkey. Although I am no historian and am not qualified to judge, it certainly helps me understand one thing: There are always two sides to every story.
如果你熟悉洛杉磯，你可能知道洛杉磯有很多美裔亞美尼亞人。 洛杉磯，特別是格倫岱市，擁有亞美尼亞和俄羅斯以外世界上最多亞美尼亞人。 如果你看過在洛杉磯製作的柯南奧布萊恩秀，你可能也知道柯南的助手索娜也是美裔亞美尼亞人。 沿著格倫岱的好萊塢大道步行，很容易會注意到一些描繪了位於埃里溫的亞美尼亞種族滅絕紀念碑的壁畫。
亞美尼亞種族滅絕始於1915年第一次世界大戰期間。 根據亞美尼亞，估計有150萬亞美尼亞人被當時的奧斯曼土耳其政府殺害。 雖然一些歷史學家認定這為種族滅絕，但土耳其對此有不同的解釋並否認它的發生，稱亞美尼亞人的死是第一次世界大戰亂局的結果，而也有很多土耳其人在該戰爭中喪生。 土耳其還聲稱俄羅斯帝國曾向亞美尼亞村民提供武器，使很多土耳其村民在戰爭中被殺。
在高加索地區旅遊提供了從不同角度了解這事件的機會: 雖然我在亞美尼亞和伊朗看到有提及亞美尼亞種族滅絕，但該事件在阿塞拜疆和士耳其是被否認的 (目前阿塞拜疆和亞美尼亞在邊界城市厄錫發生爭端)。 雖然我不是歷史學家沒資格評論，但這幫我了解到一點: 凡事總有兩面。
#Armenia
