During the night of April 24, 1915, Turkish authorities in Constantinople arrested over 200 leaders of the Armenian community. In the days to follow, hundreds more were apprehended and sent to prison in the interior of the country, where most were summarily executed. Over the next three years, as the world was preoccupied with the First World War, the Armenian people (who were predominantly Christians) were subjected to deportation, expropriation, abduction, torture, massacre, and starvation by the Turkish government. After a year's reprieve following the war, the atrocities were renewed between 1920 and 1923, and the remaining Armenians were subjected to further massacres and expulsions. Of the estimated 2 million Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire, it is believed that one and a half million perished from 1915-1923, as the Turkish government attempted to put an end to their collective existence. In a century marked by genocide, the Armenian Genocide was the 20th century's first.
This week, The Voice of the Martyrs received an email from the great-grandson of Samuel Manougian, who was an evangelical pastor in the village of Kharpert and was one of the first to "disappear" in 1915. He confessed "It is hard for me and for Armenians worldwide to forgive the Turks (as Christ forgave us our sins) since they deny that there is anything to be forgiven." He asked that Christians worldwide please pray: 1) Pray for the Armenians, that they may remain true to Christ despite the hatred that so easily arises, 2) Pray for the Turks, that they may accept responsibility for the genocide and that the persecutors' hearts would be warmed and souls won for God.
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