The death and destruction of Syrians in the two-year conflict is one of the biggest human disasters of our time. The horrific images of burned children, the wrapped bodies suffocated from chemicals, and millions of refugees scattered in the region in the dismal heat take us back to the same region about one hundred years ago, when the world again watched quietly as hundreds of thousands perished in the death marches throughout the Syrian deserts. 

In 1915, Ottoman Turks began to clean Eastern Turkey of its minorities; millions of Armenians, Assyrians, Greeks and members of other minority groups were displaced. Over a million and a half Armenians died as a result of deportation, forced marches, starvation and execution. 

According to the locals, to this day, the bones of those who perished during the Genocide lie scattered in open graves in the Syrian deserts.

In the same year, however, one U.S. organization, called the ‘American Committee for Syrian and Armenian Relief,’ was initiated as a response to the massive humanitarian crisis in the region.

The organization’s founders—including the American Ambassador to Turkey, Henry Morgenthau— established a small-scale relief operation and began soliciting donations from the American public.

As Emma Green notes in The Atlantic, the organization raised millions of dollars to feed, clothe and provide shelter to Armenian refugees—including many orphans who had lost their parents in the killings. 

In 1916, the New York Times reported that the organization asked the public for donations to “relieve 1,000 destitute, exiled, and starving Armenians scattered broadcast over Turkey, Persia, Syria, and Palestine." 

In its diligent response in the years following the Armenian Genocide, the organization saved the lives of over 1 million refugees, establishing a tradition of “citizen philanthropy” in the U.S.

Today, known as the Near East Foundation, the organization operates in Armenia, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Mali, Morocco, Palestinian Territories, Sudan and Syria. 

More posters from Near East Relief Campaigns: 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reach Executive Producer Syuzanna Petrosyan here. Follow her on Twitter.