HIST125

Description

Section information text: Genocides and mass atrocities are still very relevant in eastern Europe and the Middle East. They have a tragic history, one that goes back to the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, when much of the area under Ottoman, and then Turkish rule. This course will explore the major genocides and mass atrocities that took place in the Balkans and the Middle East against various ethnic and religious national communities in the twentieth century. We will begin with an examination of the period before and shortly after WWI, when state and non-state action against minorities changed the ethnic landscape, while establishing patterns and modus operandi for future such atrocities. These include, but are not limited to, the massacres and genocide against Armenian and Assyrian (1894-6 and 1915-1918), the ethnic cleansings in Balkans (1912-1914), and the Pontus Greek Genocide (1921-22). We will then turn our attention to the Republic period of Turkey, examining pogroms against Jews as well as the Dersim Genocide (1937-8). Turkey still denies the genocide against Christians, and the United States continues to support Turkey's denialism. The course will discuss the reasons behind the policies of the United States against the background of the current developments in the Middle East. Finally, we will focus on the mass atrocities and genocide against Kurds in Iraq in 1980s/90s, and those that tore apart the Balkans in the 1990s.