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A Decent Compromise

I failed to mention the commemoration of the Armenian genocide yesterday. After seeing Obama’s remarks, I thought I would make a couple of observations. Obviously, Obama refrained from referring to it directly as genocide in English, and the Armenian phrase he used to describe it, Mets Yeghern (or, in the Western dialect transliteration being used […]

I failed to mention the commemoration of the Armenian genocide yesterday. After seeing Obama’s remarks, I thought I would make a couple of observations. Obviously, Obama refrained from referring to it directly as genocide in English, and the Armenian phrase he used to describe it, Mets Yeghern (or, in the Western dialect transliteration being used in the official remarks, Meds Yeghern), primarily means slaughter or crime, but it can be and has been used to refer to genocide. The official name for the genocide in Armenian is a calque, tseghaspanut’yun, which refers specifically to the killing of a race or people, so it is not quite full recognition, but it is also as close to full recognition as possible under present circumstances. This provides a face-saving way to acknowledge the reality of what happened without unduly irritating Turkey, and I think it shows enough respect to Armenian history without jeopardizing the improving relations between Turkey and Armenia.

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