The Kardashians And Pope Francis Bring Armenian 'Genocide' Back To Focus After A Century

The century old Armenian genocide is back into focus. Kim Kardashian has brought this small landlocked country South of the Caucasus into prominence. Kardashians with their media savvy have brought the much-wanted focus to the upcoming Genocide Remembrance day on April 24, 2015. Pope Francis also referred to the Armenian Massacre as Genocide resulting in strong protests from Turkey.

The Armenian Genocide has not been hogging the limelight in spite of the UN recognition due to efforts by Turkey which disputes such claims. Most of the Armenian genocide descendants have kept the issue alive but have not been able to get international recognition as the Rwandan massacre or the Holocaust. Hanush Hakobyan, the Minister for the Armenian Diaspora feels that the Kardashians would help in getting better press for the country. “Majority of the people do not know where Armenia is. If Kim Kardashian writes or says anything it would be amazing PR," he said.

For the majority of the people in this conservative nation, the Kardashians were a world away. However, today frenzied crowd followed every move of Kim and Khloe as they were accompanied by Kim's Husband, rapper Kanye West and their daughter North. Local media have displayed pictures of Kim and Khloe Kardashian paying their tributes at the Genocide memorial on Friday.

Pope Francis referencing the 2001 declaration of Pope John Paul put the Armenian Genocide on par with Holocaust and Stalinist massacres. According to CNN, the pope said, "Our Human family has lived through three unprecedented tragedies and the first genocide of the 20th century struck the Armenian people." Turkey has lodged a strong protest and has summoned its ambassador for “consultations” after the comments by the Pope.

The massacre of Armenian Christians during the end of First World War is considered to be the first Genocide of the twentieth century. The United Nations unanimously passed the convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Crime of Genocide in 1948 with the massacres in Armenia as the template. Turkey, on the other hand, dismisses the allegations of massacres and continue to hold the position that both Armenians and Turkish Muslims were killed in a communal flare-up.

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