Terminology of the Armenian genocide explained

The terminology of the Armenian genocide is different in English, Turkish, and Armenian languages and has led to political controversies around the issue of Armenian genocide denial and Armenian genocide recognition. Although the majority of historians writing in English use the word "genocide", other terms exist.

Armenian

Yeghern and Medz Yeghern

Medz Yeghern (Armenian: Մեծ եղեռն, Mets yegherrn) is an Armenian term for genocide, especially the Armenian genocide. The term has been the subject of political controversy because it is perceived as more ambiguous than the word genocide.^{[1] [2] [3]} The term Aghet (Armenian: Աղետ,) is also used.^[4] The term Հայոց ցեղասպանություն (Hayots tseghaspanutyun), literally "Armenian genocide", is also used in official contexts, for example, the Հայոց ցեղասպանության թանգարան (Armenian Genocide Museum) in Armenia.

English

Contemporary observers used unambiguous terminology to describe the genocide, including "the murder of a nation", "race extermination" and so forth.

Crime against humanity

See main article: May 1915 Triple Entente declaration. In their declaration of May 1915, the Entente powers called the ongoing deportation of Armenian people a "crime against humanity". Crimes against humanity later became a category in international law following the Nuremberg trials.^{[5] [6]}

Genocide

The English word genocide was coined by the Polish Jewish lawyer Raphael Lemkin in 1943. Lemkin's interest in war crimes stemmed from the 1921 trial of Soghomon Tehlirian for the assassination of Talaat Pasha; he recognized the fate of the Armenians as one of the main cases of genocide in the twentieth century. Although most international law scholars agree that the 1948 Genocide Convention, which established the prohibition of genocide in international criminal law, is not retroactive, the events of the Armenian genocide otherwise meet the legal definition of genocide. David Gutman states that "few if any scholars, however, reject the use of 'genocide for the Armenian case solely because they consider it anachronistic. However, it is possible to write about the Armenian genocide without downplaying or denying it, using a variety of terms other than genocide.

As well as having a legal meaning, the word genocide also "contains an inherent value judgment, one that privileges the morality of the victims over the perpetrators".^[7]

Ethnic cleansing

The term ethnic cleansing, which was invented during the 1990s Yugoslav Wars, is often used alongside or instead of genocide in academic works. Some Turkish historians are willing to call the Armenian Genocide ethnic cleansing or a crime against humanity but hesitate at genocide.^[8]

French

The names in French are Génocide arménien and génocide des Arméniens.

French served as a foreign language among educated people in the post-Tanzimat/late imperial period.^[9]

German

German: Völkermord, the German word for genocide, predates the English word and was used by German contemporaries to describe the genocide.

Turkish

See also: Armenian genocide denial.

Turkish: Tehcir, the Arabic word meaning leaving at dawn, was first recorded in Turkish language as early as 1916 in official correspondence referring to the Armenian deportations, and became widespread in press jargon after the end of World War I in 1918.^[10] The genocide also unofficially referred as to Turkish: Ermeni kıyımı or Turkish: Ermeni kırımı, both meaning "the Armenian massacre".^{[11] [12]}

The Turkish government uses expressions such as "so-called Armenian genocide" (Turkish: sözde Ermeni soykırımı), "the Armenian problem" (Turkish: Ermeni sorunu), "events of 1915" (Turkish: 1915 olayları),^[13] often characterizing the charge of genocide as "Armenian allegations"^[14] or "Armenian lies".^[15] Turkish historian Doğan Gürpınar writes that Turkish: sözde soykırım is "the peculiar idiom to reluctantly refer to 1915 but outright reject it", invented in the early 1980s to further Armenian genocide denial. However, in 2006, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan ordered government officials to say "the events of 1915" instead of "so-called Armenian genocide". Erdoğan, as well as some Turkish intellectuals, have distinguished between "good" Armenians (those who live in Turkey and Armenia) who do not discuss the genocide and "bad" ones (primarily the Armenian diaspora) who insist on recognition.^[16]

Many Turkish intellectuals have been reluctant to use the term genocide because, according to Akçam, "by qualifying it a genocide you become a member of a collective associated to a crime, not any crime but to the ultimate crime". According to Halil Karaveli, "the word [genocide] incites strong, emotional reactions among Turks from all walks of society and of every ideological inclination".^[17]

Sources

• Baker . Mark R. . The Armenian Genocide and its denial: a review of recent scholarship . New Perspectives on Turkey . 2015 . 53 . 197–212 . 10.1017/npt.2015.23. 148198876 .
• Book: Cheterian . Vicken. Vicken Cheterian . Open Wounds: Armenians, Turks and a Century of Genocide . 2015 . Hurst . 978-1-84904-458-5 . en.
• Book: de Waal . Thomas . Thomas de Waal . Great Catastrophe: Armenians and Turks in the Shadow of Genocide . 2015 . Oxford University Press . 978-0-19-935069-8 . en.
• Book: Galip . Özlem Belçim . New Social Movements and the Armenian Question in Turkey: Civil Society vs. the State . 2020 . Springer International Publishing . 978-3-030-59400-8.
• Gürpınar . Doğan . The manufacturing of denial: the making of the Turkish 'official thesis' on the Armenian Genocide between 1974 and 1990 . Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies . 2016 . 18 . 3 . 217–240 . 10.1080/19448953.2016.1176397. 148518678 .
• Gutman . David . Ottoman Historiography and the End of the Genocide Taboo: Writing the Armenian Genocide into Late Ottoman History . Journal of the Ottoman and Turkish Studies Association . 2015 . 2 . 1 . 167 . 10.2979/jottturstuass.2.1.167.
• Book: Ihrig, Stefan. Stefan Ihrig. 2016. Justifying Genocide: Germany and the Armenians from Bismarck to Hitler. Justifying Genocide. Harvard University Press. 978-0-674-50479-0.
• Book: Lattanzi . Flavia. Flavia Lattanzi . The Armenian Massacres of 1915–1916 a Hundred Years Later: Open Questions and Tentative Answers in International Law . 2018 . Springer International Publishing . 978-3-319-78169-3 . 27–104 . en . The Armenian Massacres as the Murder of a Nation?.
• Book: Robertson . Geoffrey. Geoffrey Robertson . The Armenian Genocide Legacy . 2016 . Palgrave Macmillan UK . 978-1-137-56163-3 . 69–83 . en . Armenia and the G-word: The Law and the Politics.
• Maksudyan . Nazan. Nazan Maksudyan . Walls of Silence: Translating the Armenian Genocide into Turkish and Self-Censorship . Critique . 2009 . 37 . 4 . 635–649 . 10.1080/03017600903205781. 143658586.

Further reading

• Book: Matiossian . Vartan . The Politics of Naming the Armenian Genocide: Language, History and 'Medz Yeghern' . 2021 . Bloomsbury Academic . 978-0-7556-4108-6 . en.
• Sezer . Devrim . Anxieties of Naming . S: I.M.O.N. Shoah: Intervention. Methods. Documentation. . 2020 . 7 . 2 . 4–20 . 10.23777/SN.0220/ART_DSEZ01 . en . 2408-9192.

Notes and References

1. News: Khatchig . Mouradian . Explaining the Unexplainable: The Terminology Employed by the Armenian Media when Referring to 1915 . The Armenian Weekly . 23 September 2006.
2. News: Matiossian . Vartan . The 'Exact Translation': How 'Medz Yeghern' Means Genocide . The Armenian Weekly . 15 May 2013.
3. Boghos Zekiyan . Levon . Expulsion (tehcir) and genocide (soykırım): from ostensible irreconcilability to complementarity : thoughts on Metz Yeghern, the Great Armenian Catastrophe . 2014 . en.
4. Book: Savelsberg, Joachim J. . Knowing about Genocide: Armenian Suffering and Epistemic Struggles . University of California Press . 2021 . 9780520380189 . Oakland, California . 104 . en.
5. Segesser . Daniel Marc . Dissolve or punish? The international debate amongst jurists and publicists on the consequences of the Armenian genocide for the Ottoman Empire, 1915–23 . Journal of Genocide Research . 2008 . 10 . 1 . 95–110 . 10.1080/14623520701850369. 72225178 .
6. Book: Chorbajian . Levon . Levon Chorbajian . The Armenian Genocide Legacy . 2016 . Palgrave Macmillan UK . 978-1-137-56163-3 . 167–182 . en . ‘They Brought It on Themselves and It Never Happened’: Denial to 1939.
7. Book: Göçek . Fatma Müge . Fatma Müge Göçek . Denial of Violence: Ottoman Past, Turkish Present and Collective Violence Against the Armenians, 1789–2009 . 2015 . Oxford University Press . 978-0-19-933420-9 . en. 18–19. Denial of Violence.
8. Suny . Ronald Grigor . Truth in Telling: Reconciling Realities in the Genocide of the Ottoman Armenians . The American Historical Review . 2009 . 114 . 4 . 930–946 . 10.1086/ahr.114.4.930. free .
9. Book: Strauss, Johann . The First Ottoman Experiment in Democracy . 2010 . . Herzog, Christoph . . 21–51 . A Constitution for a Multilingual Empire: Translations of the Kanun-ı Esasi and Other Official Texts into Minority Languages . Malek Sharif . https://menadoc.bibliothek.uni-halle.de/menalib/download/pdf/2734659?originalFilename=true . 15 September 2019 . 11 October 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20191011233851/https://menadoc.bibliothek.uni-halle.de/menalib/download/pdf/2734659?originalFilename=true . live . (info page on book at Martin Luther University) // CITED: p. 26 (PDF p. 28): "French had become a sort of semi-official language in the Ottoman Empire in the wake of the Tanzimat reforms.[...] It is true that French was not an ethnic language of the Ottoman Empire. But it was the only Western language which would become increasingly widespread among educated persons in all linguistic communities."
10. Web site: Nişanyan . Sevan . 22 June 2022 . tehcir . https://web.archive.org/web/20240713095639/https://www.nisanyansozluk.com/kelime/tehcir . 13 July 2024 . Nişanyan Sözlük.
11. Book: Belge, Murat . Edebiyatta Ermeniler . . 2013 . 9789750512421 . 8 . tr.
12. Web site: Belge . Murat . February 2006 . Edebiyatta Ermeni Sorunu . https://web.archive.org/web/20230324124633/https://birikimdergisi.com/dergiler/birikim/1/sayi-202-subat-2006/2386/edebiyatta-ermeni-sorunu/6169 . 24 March 2023 . Birikim.
13. Web site: Holthouse . David . 3 June 2008 . State of Denial . https://web.archive.org/web/20240331104828/https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2008/state-denial . 31 March 2024 . Southern Poverty Law Center.
14. Book: Simone . Pierluigi . The Armenian Massacres of 1915–1916 a Hundred Years Later: Open Questions and Tentative Answers in International Law . Springer International Publishing . 978-3-319-78169-3 . 275–297 [277] . en . Is the Denial of the “Armenian Genocide” an Obstacle to Turkey’s Accession to the EU?. 30 May 2018 .
15. News: Prof. Taner Akçam receives 'Heroes of Justice and Truth' award during Armenian Genocide Centennial commemoration . 20 November 2020 . Clark Now . 28 May 2015 . en. The Turkish government persists in its long-standing refusal to call the killings genocide, denying the claims as “Armenian lies.”.
16. News: Mamigonian . Marc . Mamigonian: 'Divide et Impera': The Turkish-Armenian Protocols . 19 December 2020 . The Armenian Weekly . 10 May 2010 .
17. Book: Karaveli . Halil . Why Turkey is Authoritarian: From Atatürk to Erdoğan . 2018 . Pluto Press . 978-0-7453-3756-2 . 27 . en.