Illustration by Harut Tumaghyan.

April 24 is the day of commemoration for the 1.5 million victims of the Armenian Genocide. Perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire starting in 1915, the killings virtually eliminated the Armenian people from their millennia-old homeland, with the survivors being scattered across the globe. The modern Republic of Turkey was founded upon their obliterated lives and stolen assets. To this day, the government of Turkey pursues an official policy of denial regarding the genocide, while simultaneously attempting to justify it as a “necessary” wartime precaution. Until relatively recently, several Western governments and institutions kowtowed to this policy of censorship due to political considerations during the Cold War. Others continue to do so.

Turkey’s direct involvement during the 2020 Artsakh War reignited the trauma for the descendants of the victims and survivors of the genocide, including those living in the republics of Armenia and Artsakh. After decades of demanding that international recognition was necessary for the crime not to be repeated, they once again witnessed the depopulation of Armenians at the hands of Turkish arms.

How can a wound heal if it is continually pierced anew? Even in 2022, 107 years later, Armenian villages are still being terrorized and fired upon, access to water and heating is still being withheld by Turkey’s partner Azerbaijan, and the perpetrator still escapes accountability.

For this month’s issue on “Genocide”, we present pieces written over the last several years, including stories of survivors, how genocide became an instrument of Western diplomacy, the orphans of the genocide and more.