SCHOTT’S VOCAB: MEDS YEGHERN

New York Times Blogs
eds-yeghern/
May 6 2009

An Armenian term meaning "great calamity" – used to describe the
murder of 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Turks in 1915.

Many Armenians in America, and elsewhere, were disappointed recently
when President Obama shied away from using the word "genocide" to
describe the 1915 massacre, Ali Bulac reported in Today’s Zaman.

During his presidential campaign, Barack Obama said:

The Armenian genocide is not an allegation, a personal opinion or
a point of view, but rather a widely documented fact supported by an
overwhelming body of historical evidence. America deserves a leader who
speaks truthfully about the Armenian genocide and responds forcefully
to all genocides.

Yet in a statement on Armenian Remembrance Day (April 24), President
Obama appeared to moderate his language:

Ninety four years ago, one of the great atrocities of the 20th century
began. Each year, we pause to remember the 1.5 million Armenians who
were subsequently massacred or marched to their death in the final days
of the Ottoman Empire. The Meds Yeghern must live on in our memories,
just as it lives on in the hearts of the Armenian people.

Discussing the "G word" in The Independent, Robert Fisk argued that
President Bill Clinton and President George W. Bush had both reneged
on promises to call the 1915 massacre a genocide.

However, Ali Bulac’s analysis of President George W. Bush’s speeches
on the subject indicated that the 43rd president may have been inching
towards the term genocide by a process of rhetorical inflation:

George W. Bush, had described the events as a "tragedy." In 2006,
he called it a "horrible tragedy"; in 2007, he called it one of the
"greatest tragedies of the 20th century," and lastly, in 2008, he
said it was "an epic human tragedy."

Commenting on President Obama’s linguistic light touch, Agence
France-Presse reported:

After pressure from key U.S. ally Turkey, which is currently involved
in reconciliation talks with Armenia, [Obama] trod a delicate
diplomatic path and pointedly refrained from using the English word
"genocide."