Hayoc‘ c‘ełaspanut‘yan arjagank‘nern Italiayum: 1915 [L’Eco del Genocidio armeno in Italia: 1915]

This study discusses the 1915 Armenian Genocide by Ottoman Turks that resulted in the death of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians, hundreds of thousands of refugees, and more than a 100,000 orphans. The subsequent massive draconian deportation of Armenian civilians resulted in a forced migration of Ottoman Armenians into different states. Italy was one such destination for Armenian Genocide survivors. The Italian press reported extensively on the massacres of the Armenians under the Young Turk dictatorship. Terms and phrases in Italian news articles describing the massacre and deportation include the following: “massacres,” “slaughter,” “unbelievable atrocities,” “terrible tortures,” “kidnapping of attractive young girls, “rape,” “unparalleled savagery,” “acts of horror,” “great deportation,” “completely depopulated,” “wholesale deportations, “systematically uprooted,” and the like. Italian journalists used words that conveyed the magnitude of heinous acts and deeds, comparable to language used when discussing the death toll in Europe. As events were developing in Europe during the First World War, the international press, unfortunately, was trying to analyze the events of the Armenian Genocide in the light of the war. The Italian press used mostly secondary sources, interpreting the onslaught as a tragic consequence of the war. Because Italy was involved in the war and because of paper rationing, it was natural that the Italian media primarily covered the issues concerning Italy. By the time the Italian press accurately perceived the magnitude of the Armenian catastrophe, the death toll was already in the hundreds. Surprisingly, the Italian press became attentive to the Armenian crisis, often publishing news of the massacre on the front pages of Italian newspapers. The purpose of this study is to analyze how Italy, a key player in European geopolitics, responded to the Armenian massacres in 1915. Included is a literature review of the kinds of news reaching Italy, the manner (media, diplomatic messages, and so on) in which the news was relayed, as well as and how the events were covered. In addition to analysis, Chapter 1 includes important articles selected from the press, translated into Armenian, in order to provide a more complete picture of the chronology. Chapter 2 is dedicated to the pro-Armenian activity of Italian Consul General Giacomo Gorrini. The entire interview, published in the Il Messaggero newspaper on August 25, 1915, is presented here, translated into Armenian. The third chapter focuses on articles in Armenia magazine, regularly published in Torino since October 1915. Appendix 1 presents a chronological list of articles published in Italy in 1915. Appendix 2 includes the diplomatic messages addressed to Italy’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Sidney Sonnino in connection with the Armenian massacres. At the end of the study there is an index and bibliography.