"Meds Yehgern" or "Genocide": Will the Usage of Either of the Terms by the US Mean Official Recognition?

• 04.26.2017, 20:07
•  America,  Region,  World,  Armenia

Pars Today

On April 24, 2017 Armenians all over the world and not only, commemorated the 102^nd anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, once again voicing that the plans of the Ottoman Turkey failed and the 25-year-old independent Armenia is the greatest proof of it. We have always stated that Genocide is an undeniable fact, our aim on Armenian Genocide issue is not proving the fact, not trying to find those guilty, but calling things by their names.

In this regard international recognition of the Armenian Genocide has a great importance for us. Recognition and the condemnation of the Armenian Genocide by the US, which is one of the power centers and has quite a serious influence in the world, on Turkey as well, has a special role for us. That is why every year on the eve of April 24 all Armenians start waiting for the US President to say the word "Genocide", which, according to many, will be followed by official recognition of the Armenian Genocide by the US. 

This time it was also the case. However, the US President Donald Trump, not intending to change the US policy in regard with the Armenian Genocide, called the massacres of the Armenians in 1915 "Meds Yeghern". In his statement Trump said: "Today, we remember and honor the memory of those who suffered during the Meds Yeghern, one of the worst mass atrocities of the 20th century. Beginning in 1915, one and a half million Armenians were deported, massacred, or marched to their deaths in the final years of the Ottoman Empire. I join the Armenian community in America and around the world in mourning the loss of innocent lives and the suffering endured by so many," Trump said adding that these atrocities should be remembered to prevent them from occurring again.

It should be reminded that the former US President Barack Obama was also using the term "the Meds Yeghern". However, his statement made on the 100^th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, differed from the others. In 2015 statement the US President made a reference and welcomed the acts of such people as Pope Francis, Raphael Lemkin and the US Ambassador Henry Morgenthau in Ottoman Turkey. The former two openly called the 1915 Armenian massacres Genocide, while Ambassador Morgenthau was the most vociferous US diplomat and the information revealed by him helped to prove the cruel and government-organized nature of the Armenian Genocide. Nevertheless, this also did not lead to the official recognition of the Armenian Genocide by the US.

So should we link the recognition of the Armenian Genocide will the usage of the term "Genocide"? Doesn’t Meds Yeghern mean Genocide? Are we doing it right, when we differentiate these two words? Questions, that make think...

In this context we should remember that the world recognizes the genocide of Jews as "Holocaust", a term that refers particularly to the genocide of Jews during World War II by Nazi Germany. The same is with the term "the Meds Yeghern", which means genocide of Armenians in 1915 by Ottoman Turks. And if the US and other states officially recognize "the Meds Yeghern", this, in fact, will not change the nature - this will again mean official recognition of the Armenian Genocide. 

In this regard it should be reminded that Donald Reagan, in one of his speeches used the word "Genocide", but this did not mean that the US officially recognized the Armenian Genocide.

Thus, despite the fact that many US states have recognized the Armenian Genocide, that Reagan uttered "Genocide", that both the former and the current US Presidents admit that in 1915 one and a half million Armenians were massacred, that these atrocities should be remembered to prevent them from occurring again, that they called these atrocities "the Meds Yeghern", it is clear that the United Stated as a country is not ready to put aside its interests and officially recognize the Armenian Genocide. Recognition, which will signal the victory of attempts of the US to restore justice, but will also mean deterioration of relations with Turkey and losing its partner in the region. It does not seem that the US is ready to such a step...