Medz Yeghern: Great Crime vs. Great Calamity

[Diranakir]

Re: Medz Yeghern: Great Crime vs. Great Calamity

From "Arshile Gorky: A kindred spirit" by Tom Teicholz [in the link 3 x's will be the letters j, e, w. Two x's will be the letters e, w.]

Here are some details of Gorky's life. . . :

1. He was a witness to genocide.

Gorky was born Vosdanig Adoian around 1904 (there is some confusion
about the actual date) in the village Khorkom, near Lake Van in
Turkey. In 1915, Turkish troops began a pogrom of murder and forced
deportations of Armenians in the community, an act of systematic and
thorough ethnic cleansing that became known as "The Great Crime" -
for which the term genocide was coined.

http://www.xxxishjournal.com/summer_sneaks/article/arshile_gorky_a_kindred_spirit_just_not_xxxish_20100601/

[Diranakir]

Re: Medz Yeghern: Great Crime vs. Great Calamity

Another Positive Example

from http://www.turkishdenials.com/

page for Turkish Denials, a book by John Ahmaranian. The following statement is addressed to the Turkish nation.

"This book is not a call for vengeance. This course of action has always been meaningless and futile in the history of the world. It neither restores loved ones nor erases horrors from memory.

However, the elimination of vengeance does not nullify a need to document these events, nor does it eliminate the requirement that your people admit to their acts and designs in the Great Crime. Unfortunately until this day, both your government and your people have arrogantly pursued a policy of denial."

January 4, 1989

[Diranakir]

Re: Medz Yeghern: Great Crime vs. Great Calamity

A Meeting of The Minds? On the cruciality of Great Crime vs. Great Calamity

From Suat Kiniklioglu, Member of Turkish Parliament and Spokesman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, 2009

Obama's statement is interesting from a variety of perspectives, and I believe it is worth examining whether the term "Meds Yeghern" has the potential to become a mutually acceptable term for both sides to commemorate the events in question. As is now commonly known, "Meds Yeghern" denotes "Great Calamity/Great Disaster" in the Armenian language. Although I am not in a position to fully comprehend the context in which this term is being used in Armenian, I am willing to venture into the following.
I believe the events of World War I constituted a Great Calamity for Turks, Kurds, Armenians, Anatolian Greeks and probably other peoples of the Ottoman Empire. Indeed, it was a great trauma for the Turks, who saw their great empire collapse in front of their own eyes and who saw a multitude of peoples rebel against the state and side with the invading enemies of the time. It was a Great Calamity to the Armenians who had to be relocated during harsh war conditions and subsequently suffered immensely. It was a disaster for them as they left behind their homes and memories, similar to the millions of Turks who were chased out of the Balkans, the Caucasus and the Middle East. It was a Great Calamity for the Turks and the Kurds fighting on the eastern front against the invading Russian armies, who were intent on grabbing the eastern part of the remaining territories of the Ottoman realm. It was a true disaster for all involved as the war time conditions of eastern Anatolia were brutal and certainly far from being hospitable to any of the struggling sides. Famine, disease and misery were the order of the day.

Yet, as President Abdullah Gül said in response to Obama's statement, we need to look forward and see whether the Turks and the Armenians will be able to normalize relations in the coming months and years. Therefore, the term "Meds Yeghern" should not be chided right away because it is an Armenian term. I think it harbors the potential to bring all of the aggrieved parties together. "Meds Yeghern" could become the cornerstone of a positive language about the events of 1915, one which signifies the calamity that the competition over the Ottoman realms between the imperial powers brought about, which ultimately led to the dismemberment of the Ottoman Empire and the loss of the Armenian population. It also resulted in the loss of the empire's Greek subjects. We Turks built a new nation-state from the ashes of the empire, but one consequence of these historic events was the loss of the richness and diversity of the Ottoman days and the change in the social fabric of these lands. Could it be possible to utilize this term as a base around which all of us could mourn the losses we all incurred during the fateful days of World War I?

All interested in the normalization of Turkish-Armenian relations should look into the potential of whether the term "Meds Yeghern" could be applied to the wider pain and disaster that occurred in eastern Anatolia during World War I and thus could pave the way for a common language on this painful chapter of history.

http://www.suatkiniklioglu.org/tr/my-today-s-zaman-column/-meds-yeghern.html

From Harout Sassounian, addressed to President Obama in 2009:
You may want to know that "Meds Yeghern" does not mean genocide; it means "Great Calamity." Armenians used that term before the word "genocide" was coined by Raphael Lemkin in the 1940's. "Genocide" in Armenian is "Tseghasbanoutyoun," which is a much more precise term than "Meds Yeghern," in case you decide to use it in the future.

http://www.lemagan.com/newsDet.php?languageid=1&newsid=46&newsType=N

[Diranakir]

Re: Medz Yeghern: Great Crime vs. Great Calamity

It is unbelievable that people who take an Armenian term which means Great Crime, Great Atrocity and turn it into Great Calamity have the nerve to then criticize it in front of the whole world for lack of precision when they are the ones who have blunted it, betrayed it and robbed it of its precision.

[Diranakir]

Re: Medz Yeghern: Great Crime vs. Great Calamity

EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus Peter Semneby called the June 18 Azerbaijani provocation [in which 4 Armenian soldiers were killed in a sneak attack] "a deplorable event". A deplorable event? Not a grave violation that should incur a penalty or at least strong censure ?

The same questions apply to those who blindly and habitually call the Medz Yeghern the 'great calamity'. A deplorable event? Not a grave violation. . . .?

[gegev]

Re: Medz Yeghern: Great Crime vs. Great Calamity

It is unbelievable that people who take an Armenian term which means Great Crime, Great Atrocity and turn it into Great Calamity have the nerve to then criticize it in front of the whole world for lack of precision when they are the ones who have blunted it, betrayed it and robbed it of its precision.

America is loosing its face worldwide as a human rights defender.

Just pay attention that in the foreign relations committee all the members in their speeches recognized AG as a historical truth but regardless the fact about half of them openly declared that recognizing the fact is not profitable for the United States.

Eventually unveiling nowadays USA real face world wide. Thus Hillary Clinton on behalf of America declared that (by urging the committee members; vote against AG acceptance) when they judge a criminal: the sentence will depend on profitability of the court decision to USA and if it is not, the victim should be sentenced, instead. Truth doesn't matter.

This proves that for some of the nowadays USA politicians Judah Iscariot’s image is the most typical: 30 silver coins matters most.

[ashot24]

Re: Medz Yeghern: Great Crime vs. Great Calamity

EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus Peter Semneby called the June 18 Azerbaijani provocation [in which 4 Armenian soldiers were killed in a sneak attack] "a deplorable event". A deplorable event? Not a grave violation that should incur a penalty or at least strong censure ?

The same questions apply to those who blindly and habitually call the Medz Yeghern the 'great calamity'. A deplorable event? Not a grave violation. . . .?

The only and most important reason for all those politicians in UN, OSCE, PACE, EU who "condemned" (if that can be considered a condemnation) the events and called both parties to abstain from making such things, even though Azerbaijan was clearly the guilty side (as stated by their own media, later reverted for the "Armenians are guilty of everything" recipe), is because they all really really don't want to anger Azerbaijani spoiled babies.

The reason is no one in their sane mind would want to trigger the Azerbaijani propaganda machine against them. Should the OSCE or PACE or UN or anyone directly condemn Azerbaijan of the events in June 18, Azerbaijani propaganda would create a whole lot of undesirable, aggressive, incredible, amazingly disturbing propaganda against those institutions and/or people and individuals (just look at the persons who were present in the NKR parliamentary elections, they are now "person-nor-Grata", "criminals who violated international law", and even some in Azerbaijan were asking to take them to court), pretty much the same way they prepare everyday against us and have for more than 20 years attacked Armenia and the Armenian people.

[lampron]

Re: Medz Yeghern: Great Crime vs. Great Calamity

Should the OSCE or PACE or UN or anyone directly condemn Azerbaijan of the events in June 18, Azerbaijani propaganda would create a whole lot of undesirable, aggressive, incredible, amazingly disturbing propaganda against those institutions and/or people and individuals

The UN bodies can be good and independent sometimes (such as the Human Rights Commission). The EU and NATO and PACE have been pro-Azerbaijan and anti-Karabakh for their own political reasons (Azerbaijan is potentially anti-Moscow and anti-Iran) and it has gas and oil. Not because they are afraid of Azerbaijani propaganda

The Armenian side is also at fault. Why have Armenians not raised the Sumgait progrom at international courts and other bodies to demand condemnation?

[Diranakir]

Re: Medz Yeghern: Great Crime vs. Great Calamity

June 2008, Amb. Yovanovitch in Senate hearings

Amb. Yovanovitch emphasized that "the U.S. government recognizes and deplores the mass killings, ethnic cleansing, and forced deportations that devastated over one and a half million Armenians at the end of the Ottoman Empire. The United States recognizes these events as one of the greatest tragedies of the 20th century -- the 'Medz Yeghern' or Great Calamity, as many Armenians refer to it. The Administration understands that many Americans and many Armenians believe that the events of the past -- that I have referred to -- should be called 'genocide.' It has been President Bush's policy, as well as that of previous presidents of both parties, not to use that term."

http://www.arf1890.com/Archives%202008%20news/June%202008%20news.html

Comment 1:
It is clear from this that those who use the word 'deplore' about mass violence but are unwilling to hold anyone to blame for it are also very likely to refer to it as a CALAMITY.

Comment 2:
It is clear that the master plan of the highest circles of the U. S. government is to stop discussion of the Armenian Genocide at "Great Calamity" and never let it go a step further.

Question:
Who told Amb. Yovanovitch that Medz Yeghern means 'great calamity'?

Comment 3:

What is deplorable is that Amb. Yovanovitch went twenty miles out of her way to say "the mass killings, ethnic cleansing, and forced deportations that devastated over one and a half million Armenians at the end of the Ottoman Empire" instead of simply saying Genocide.

Conclusion:

Medz Yeghern means Great Crime, Great Atrocity--not "deplorable event".

[Diranakir]

Re: Medz Yeghern: Great Crime vs. Great Calamity

Addendum:

Amb. Yovanovitch's statement clearly reflects the understanding of the highest circles of the U. S. government, regardless of particular administration, that saying Medz Yeghern does NOT amount to a recognition that a genocide was perpetrated against the Armenian people, and it is that understanding that lies at the basis of its use for the past two years on April 24th, whereas in fact Medz Yeghern means Great Crime/Great Atrocity and foreshadows Raphael Lemkin's coining of the term genocide and therefore designates the Genocide of the Armenian people. Those who assume, or would have others assume, that it means anything else are playing the devil's game.