President Obama Issues Statement on Armenian Remembrance Day

Below is the statement issued by President Obama on April 24, in which he continues to avoid referring to the destruction of the Armenians in Ottoman Turkey in 1915 as “genocide,” employing the Armenian term “Meds Yeghern” instead. For more details and continued coverage, visit our Facebook page.
Barack Obama
Today, we commemorate the Meds Yeghern, one of the worst atrocities of the 20th century.  In doing so, we honor the memory of the 1.5 million Armenians who were brutally massacred or marched to their deaths in the waning days of the Ottoman Empire.  As we reflect on the unspeakable suffering that took place 97 years ago, we join millions who do the same across the globe and here in America, where it is solemnly commemorated by our states, institutions, communities, and families.  Through our words and our deeds, it is our obligation to keep the flame of memory of those who perished burning bright and to ensure that such dark chapters of history are never repeated.

I have consistently stated my own view of what occurred in 1915.  My view of that history has not changed.  A full, frank, and just acknowledgement of the facts is in all of our interests.  Moving forward with the future cannot be done without reckoning with the facts of the past.  The United States has done so many times in our own history, and I believe we are stronger for it.  Some individuals have already taken this courageous step forward.  We applaud those Armenians and Turks who have taken this path, and we hope that many more will choose it, with the support of their governments, as well as mine.

Although the lives that were taken can never be returned, the legacy of the Armenian people is one of triumph.  Your faith, courage, and strength have enabled you to survive and prosper, establishing vibrant communities around the world.  Undaunted, you have preserved your patrimony, passing it from generation to generation.  Armenian Americans have made manifold contributions to the vibrancy of the United States, as well as critical investments in a democratic, peaceful, and prosperous future for Armenia.  The United States is proud of your heritage, and your contributions honor the memory of those who senselessly suffered and died nearly a century ago.

On this solemn day of remembrance, we stand alongside all Armenians in recalling the darkness of the Meds Yeghern and in committing to bringing a brighter future to the people of Armenia.

70 Comments

  1. “[…] 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. […] The facts are undeniable. […] as President I will recognize the Armenian Genocide.” — Barak Obama, 2006

    Yeah, right…

  2. Obama should read this book…
    “Just last week, a 1,000-page book on the topic was sent to my office.

    It was compiled by the famous German journalist and writer Wolfgang Gust. It includes all of the documentation of activities against the Armenians that were filed in the German Foreign Ministry’s archives in 1915 and 1916. These documents include not only those that were sent by German diplomats or mission members in Turkey, but also views and debates from within the German government on the same subject.

    The book is in Turkish. Its English, German, Spanish and Portuguese versions are already in print. Its message is, “Since the Turks won’t do it, let us do it. They should see these documents and understand the facts we have. They should be convinced that we are not acting as their enemies, but trying to explain an incident.” It has been translated into an extremely comprehensible and beautiful Turkish by Belge Publishing House. Obviously it has taken years. It is an extremely important and expensive study. ”
    http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/Default.aspx?pageID=449&nID=19114&NewsCatID=405

    • If Obama reads this book, he should also read Atilgan, İnanç; Moumdjian, Garabet. Archival Documents of the Viennese Armenian-Turkish Platform. Edition Diwan im Wieser Verlag, 2009/2010. 978-3-85129-788-1 ; 9783902713049. 907 pp.; The Armenian Question in the Caucasus Russian Archive Documents and Publications (1724-1914) 3 Vols. ed. by The European Azerbaijan Society. Ithaca Press, 2011; Katchaznouni, Hovhannes. The Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnagtzoutiun) has nothing to do any more: The Manifesto of Hovhannes Katchaznouni, First Prime Minister of the Independent Armenian Republic. Translated from the Original by Matthew A. Callender. Edited by John Roy Carlson (Arthur A. Derounian). Published by the Armenian Information Service, 1955; Şimşir, Bilal N. British documents on Ottoman Armenians. 4 Vols. (1856-1895). Ankara : Türk Tarih Kurumu Basımevi, 1982-1990. Joseph Luns, NATO Secretary-General (1971-84), in his memoirs remarked this issue saying everybody knows what happened to Armenians, but they do not know what Armenians did to Turks. Unfortunately reciprocally atrocities were exerted during war time. I personally can understand the aspiration for having own state, but what I can’t understand is how come it is possible to be as ferocious as to intend to exterminate or expel 75 percent of the population for a group holding only 25 percent just because historically the region is named after them, and their ancestors happened to had come to the region 3000 years ago while the others came 1000 years ago. If we emphathize a little and try to see things from each others point of view, and if demonization comes to an end there can be progress. Another thing I can’t understand is how come a nation, who still suffers with the remembrance of relocation that took place 98 years ago, can expel 1 million Azeris from Nagorno Karabagh causing them to suffer in the same way. Over the last 20 years are Armenians able to sleep restfully while one million Nagorno Karabagh people live in bad conditions in Azerbaijan missing their houses, hoping to be able to go back home one day and remember their beloved ones they lost in 1992? Everybody has the right to live in own homeland. Unless members of multicultural communities learn how to manage living together there can be no peace. It is great pity. Turks remained silent, because they wanted peace, they believed in peace. That is the legacy of the founder of Turkish Republic, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk to the Turkish nation.

    • You are 13 months late & all of your raised points are exactly the same as of the Turkish & AXEbeijani Genocide denial organizations.Nothing new for us here.
      You better start to convince all those honorable Turkish intellectuals who collectively apologized for the Genocide committed by your forefathers.Then you are most welcomed to try same here.
      Understand one point very clearly, which is beneficial for both of us:you stay behind your borders & we stay behind ours.We do not want to live together.We can always be good neighbors but will never accept to live together.

  3. Just say it Mr. Pres. Just say it. It’s not a 4-letter word. Genocide. Genocide. Genocide. There. I said it 3 times. It’s not so hard. I will not vote for a Rethuglican, but I will not vote for you either. Not this time. Too bad. I really thought you were different.

  4. I don’t speak Armenian. What is the literal translation of “meds yeghern”?

    This may be a step forward because the US can presumably mention the Armenian genocide now by simply translating mds yeghern to English.

  5. Mr. President:

    If, as an English-speaking president, you shy away from using the word “genocide” in your native English language and prefer using the Armenian language instead, at least use the literal translation of the word “genocide”, the Armenian equivalent for which is “tseghaspanutyun” (“killing of a race”) and not Medz Yeghern. Do your advisors know this or it’s a taboo in the White House to use the proper word for “genocide” even in the Armenian language? By the way, back in 2006 a then-senator had promised to recognize the Armenian Genocide as President. Could it be you?

    The more I live in the US the more I admire France and their courageous President.

  6. All statesmen should shield the robe of hypocrisy.
    they should address it “GENOCIDE”, recognise and honour in memory of the 1.5 million martyrs.

  7. “Some individuals have already taken this courageous step forward. We applaud those Armenians and Turks who have taken this path, and we hope that many more will choose it, with the support of their governments, as well as mine”.

    Armenian have taken what courageous step forward? The fact that you completely ignore the very recognition that was promised to the Armenian community if elected President?..The fact that your administration has no moral fortitude to acknowledge the reality of planned mass murder and theft of wealth and property of the Armenian nation for the sake of political expediency? The fact that this crime against humanity not only goes unpunished but the perpetrator is rewarded with the fruits of its crime till this day? To bad Mr. President you do not take that courageous path forward yourself but continue the collude with the denial which is in itself the last phase of any genocide..

  8. “A full, frank, and just acknowledgement of the facts is in all of our interests.”

    Then why won’t you properly acknowledge them, Mr. President?

  9. why are we just wasting time with this anyways …. are we seriously dreaming that the US is going to break ties with turkey over us?
    honestly lets get out of this dream world.. they dont care about us.. there can never be justice when our people are lost and confused.. we need to wake the people.. the screams have to be felt.. young generation armenians its in your hands..

  10. An unacceptable, cowardly and shameless statement full of everything but the bare bone factual characterization of the Armenian Genocide.

    I don’t need obama to tell me how proud I should be to be Armenian or how far our community has come with so little and how we have survived over decades. We achieved all that with our own blood and our own sweat and continue to pursue justice no thanks to cowardly and complicit bystanders.

    Nothing can be more reprehensible and insulting than a sitting president afraid to tell the truth for the sake of political expediency. Just another reason to send him packing in the fall.

    • NO sitting President has EVER used the word Genocide. The Turks have a securety hold on what ANY President can say obout this. Skip the anger and say/do something constructive.

  11. Any appreciation I feel for a call to learn from the past and not allow a repeat of such atrocities, pales in light of the sadness I feel at my President’s use of the term ‘meds yeghern.’ I find it patronizing of Obama to use our words while ignoring our meaning, and for the purpose of pleasing those hiding from the charge of genocide. Yes, it was a great tragedy, but this tragedy has a name in the English language, and it bothers me that the president of the United States is muzzled, or allows himself to be muzzled. It would have been preferable if the statement’s opening sentence left out the words ‘meds yeghern’ entirely and read like this instead: “Today, we commemorate one of the worst atrocities of the 20th century. ”

    Today, I have once again witnessed the tragedy of misused leadership. Perhaps Obama, like other presidents before him, has been convinced, or coerced by other powers to view the term ‘Armenian genocide’ as too politically charged. But I view his statement as political pandering and one that falls short of an honest appraisal of the past or compassionate acknowledgment of the Armenian struggle for historical accuracy.

    It is almost better if he had said nothing, although the statement was just what I expected he would release. No surprise here.

  12. This is not worth the paper it’s written on”No guts no air medals”.No American or Armenian should vote for this guy again.

    • Too late. He’s not up for reelection. Given what you say, no one should ever vote for ANY President again because they have and always will never address this to our/tour satisfaction.

  13. Mr. President, You are consistent in your use of the Armenian term “Meds Yeghern” to define the slaughter of my ancestors (1915-1923). The term for this Armenocide is spelled “G-E-N-O-C-I-D-E”. It should not be commemorated only on April 24 each year. It should be acknowledged and remembered every day and everywhere. Those who deny the past are as responsible as the perpetrators.

  14. Considering the US policy toward Turkey and our misgided national interest on this issue, this was not that bad of an acknowledgment; espcially the part where he admits that he knows the facts and his implicit reference to the tragedy as genocide.

    • I respectfully disagree. His statement acknowledges death marches and massacres without mention of a guilty party. He rides the coattails of his past use of the label genocide, but hides behind Armenian terms, while betraying their explicit meaning. He curiously applauds Armenians AND Turks for taking the path of a “full, frank and just acknowledgement ” of the facts, suggesting that there is mutuality to the need to face history. No matter how you look at this supposed nod toward his previous assertion of describing the events of 1915 as genocide, this statement took great care to not upset Ankara and was little more than a patronizing pat on the head for Armenians. This offers pitifully little for us to find solace in.

  15. Sireli khesdapahanch yev angordsnakan Hayrenakitsner, it is enough “tser ese geshel”. President Obama has acknowledged the facts while some of us are stuck wit semantics. Let us get over words and emphacise “compensation”
    for the atrocious acts commited upon the Armenian nation.

  16. Once again Mr Obama is taking Armenians for idiots. What do you expect from somebody when he tries to cover up Turkey’s present persecutions on its minorities? The US doesn’t need Turkey, it’s Turkey who’s survival depends on the US! Shame on you Mr President!

  17. I wish to see less drainage of our resources on whether or not each and every US president utters the g-word and more concentration on lawsuits for the loss of our properties in Western Armenia and against foreign insurance companies. For instance, the lawsuit for compensation of properties at Incirlik Air Base in Turkey constructed on the site of 1909 mass massacre of Armenians by the Turks.

  18. the word genocide has lost its luster, it is waste of time and money, high time to take it to the next level, restitution, go after UN’s $60 billion compensation, recover properties.
    $60 billion will go a long way towards convincing the hardliners, deniers.
    Money talks BS walks.

  19. Jeff:

    OK, we’ll send him packing in the fall and then Romney comes unpacking in the winter. And what happens? All of them are brought to the office to defend the interests of the establishment. I think the business of pressing presidents to use the genocide word should be given least attention. Obama, to his credit, clearly demonstrated that he admits the Turkish crime against the Armenians as genocide but he just can’t use the word for matters of political expediency. We have so many other venues to pursue. Why hang up about this one?

  20. DEAR PRESIDENT
    MR. OBAMA

    THIS IS YOUR STATEMENT AS A “PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE”

    “America deserves a leader who speaks truthfully about the Armenian Genocide and responds forcefully to all genicides. I intend to be that President.”

    Mr. President you must be a man of your word and honor your pledge to recognise the Armenian Genocide

    Mr. President using “MEDS YEGHERN” instead of “GENOCIDE”
    is a “dirty political game” with both Armenians andTurks as well .
    Mr.President you betrayal of your own pledge is unforgiveable.

    Dr. Babajanian and Family Who Previously Voted for you.
    April 24, 2012
    California-USA

  21. To Yochanan Bitan

    “Medz Yeghern” means Great Crime or Great Atrocity. But President Obama does not know this or use the term in that sense. That is possible for him to do because there has been a universal pattern in the media for the past few years to redefine the term as calamity, tragedy, catastrophe, etc. This is a complete falsification. “Medz Yeghern” clearly points to a massive criminal act and the criminals behind it. The genius of the other terms, at least from the perspective of Turkish nationalism and President Obama, is that they imply no such thing.

    • Some people have no shame
      So they can never feel
      Thus, you can never teach them

      You are carrying the name Ahmad (and not Ahmet… )
      Do you know the meaning
      Means to (thanks to god)…From Verb Hamad
      And never be bad…
      Ahmad is not Turkish name…but real Arabian
      Arabs know very well who are the new Ottomans…
      What they did how they left them 500 years behind…!

    • Who wants to bet that the Armenians will never ever stop to get full and just resolution to being victims of Turkish state sponsored murder?

      This will never end! And if you have noticed it does go further every year.. Its only a matter of time..

    • I’ll bet you that the number of Turks who grieve with us increases every year!

      Whether or not the President of the US supports our cause and uses the term genocide is important, but it is not our ultimate goal. Our ultimate goal is justice for a great crime perpetrated against the Armenian nation and an end to the denial which continues the crime of genocide into its final phase. Further, our goal is to stop future genocides by making sure the historical record is accurate and that the guilty are held accountable.

      Why don’t you join us in this humanitarian goal?

  22. I´m watching Armenian T.V. channels,while also reading posts here on AW, this April24,2012.Interviews in Istanbulla(yes istanbulla, not even istanbull,in my version).Explanation for this, as follows,also other important issues to know.
    1. The Turk I got to know ,first in Iran(I lived there ,was born there -Northwestern little village near Tabriz,Aterpatakan) ,before leaving for London,age 16 to study,was mainly uneducated workers, ¨hamals¨mean s porters(literally carrying heavy articles, on back on huge pad) .Some, of these turkic people-close to 15 million-only spoke their turkish, the coarse,real one.The one that my father spoke the modernized,so to say Istanbulla turkish was articulated ,pronouncing the coarse words softly(later also written in latin characters,when ordered so by Ataturk).In short a ¨make over¨ as we know here in the U.S. in order to deceive the Euro-Ams and othert people lof the world that they have progressed(all of a sudden) and can NOW BE CLASSIFIED as civilizesd people. Nothing of the sort!!!
    what they havereally achieved and accomplished is also while keeping true to the Ottoman turkish cunning diplomacy, to continue to cheat, deceive and pluder the weak.Whether in what is left from their Ottoman days etyc.,
    2. Those who do not consent to my above so to say ¨declaration¨ can always refer to media, T.V. and live contact with the NEW turks. Also ask themselves, what HAVE TURKS DONE IN WAY OF SCIENCES, ARTS,INDUSTRIES BY THEMSELVES…????
    Indeed, I am aware that there are quite a few important industries there in present Turkey nowadays,but all ,or almost all UNDER FOREGIN LICENSES,KNOW HOW ETC. In Ottoman times?Armenians mainly helped them with Architectural marvels, chemical industries etc. They have just lately succeeded in producing a few repeat A FEW INTELLECTUALS, such as Orhan Pamuk and a few Taner Ackcam like..(pebbles in an Ocean).
    3.Indeed they have also very very few who have also dared to come and kneel,so to say at the Tzitzernakapert Genocide Martyrs Monument in Yerevan-like grandson of Jemal pasha, one of the mastermkinds of the Genocide-.This also,please understand is considered ..O.K. by their fascist Govt., and not being punished by Turkish Govt.
    Why? some may ask.Simple, the deep state OF tURKEY,KNOWS FULL WELL THAT IT IS A MATTER OF TIME THAT THE WHOLE WORLD WILL CONDEMN THEM.Thence, THEY HAVE THESE ¨PEBBLES¨¨ AS PROOF THAT THEY DID HAVE SOME VANGUARDS OF FREEDOM AND DEMOCRACY….they were ¨our forerunners¨ of our future COMING OF AGE(Democracy, equality brotherhood , you set up more words..I´m tired of their Hypocracy…
    Now then, what is to be GAINED FROM A U.S. PRESIDENT DECLARING THAT APRIL 24 IS NOT JUST A SIMPLE REMEMBRANCE DAY ,BUT LIOKE THE JEWISH HOLOCAUST AFFIRMATION, AFFIRMATION OF THE ARMENIAN GENOICED(WHICH TOOK PLACE BEFORE THE jEWISH ONE) btw.
    =======================================================
    NOW THEN, even if the U.S. pres. Obama had used word Genocide(pres. Ronald Reagan did-what happened? any results????).
    No ,not really, nmothing tangible. Quite the contrary,modern-so to say-Republic of Turkey a Staunch Ally , is there to defend our investments,military bases etc., etc., actually very incognito a supposition.Why so .Simple ,Turkey always puts its own before any others´.
    Armenian rights?,Assyrian ,Greek and Alevi etc., rights? My foot.WE are the masters in this land(conquered of course as of the 1200s) and will be so.
    Meanwhile, -this concenns us Armenians-great Turkey may indeed suffer some setbacks(they have been alarmed especially ,as of last year ,viz France´s outright siding with Genocide recognition and other Euro nations beginning to ¨
    wake up¨¨ to turkish realities…PLUS OF COURSE ONE OTHER SORE SPOT THAT REALLY AGGRAVATES THEIR SLUMBER..NAMELY THE KURDISH issue/problem , call it what you like.
    Neighbours? arab countries ?.After failure in trying to enter EU, they tried to boss around in the Middle East,inviting Conference in Istanbulla heads or reps. of those states plus IRAN´s.This also did not catch on…(arabs know them quite well).Next? iran was invited to Istanbulla just a week or so ago…
    On his way home , from recent Conf. in Korea,Mr.Erdogan stopped over in Tehran to invite Iran to Istabulla re nuclear proliferation etc., Got very softly refused.No thanks, we would like see each other and others ion Baghdad.
    Thence one can surmise that the steam with which they plan and try to get the train going, is by and by being extinguished,slowed down.
    Except indeed a few (deep state),Govt.s that as yet believe their turkish ally will aucceed in that area as Genderme…
    One last comment,before i sign off.Armenians must understand that even if Genocide is confirmed not only by U.S., U.K. and others.Nothing important will happen in Turkey or Turkish diplomacy.Of course they will then , accept to recognize Genoicde,period. Nada mas. restitutions? Indeed, we have already begun to hand back a few intact churches etc.,Lands?(oh that again) well COME AND LIVE ALONGSIDE US UNDER OUR FLAG AND AGAIN MORE MODERNIZED COUNTRY.Why do you wish to seperatge with us .We are old Brothers,see how brotherly we are with the kurds…
    MY VIEWPOINT?
    I am rather stingy in this respect,as just described, I do not believe it will be much more than that. By and By yavash yavash policy…towards the Ermeni problemisi!!!!! also indeed the kurds.After all, we are the Strong Republic of Turkey, that if Czaris Russian Bolshevik Russia dares to flow over to the Middle East,we are there to stop them.Very stupid those who think latter will ever happen.Firstlhy Turkish dimplomacy is very flexible(CAMALEON) THEY WILL THEN STRIKE MORE biz WITH rUSSIA(THEY ALREADY DO).MAKE UP A BIT MORE WITH THE r.OF aRMENIA CEDING THEM T H E nAGORNIYI KARABH RECOGNITION AS aRMENIAN LAND AN D SOME SUCH SMALL STYUFF THAT ORU pAREMIDS LIKE .Like Oh now in Sourpt Giuragos we are allowed to go and conduct Mass every month, INSTEAD OF oNCE PER ANNUM OR SAME IN AH TAMARA….come come to Istanbulla.Soon we shall have more Armeno Turkish JOINT Genocide Commemorations on Taksim Square too.
    Armenians!!! now seriously. We can only depend on OUR OWN RE-ORGANIZTION, WHETHER IN DIASPORA OR HOMELAND!!! period.

  23. We are wasting our time with the US state department and also England neither
    of those 2 countries will ever say the word Genocide.The thing to do now is to
    take all of the facts and documents that proves the Genocide and take it to the international court of human rights at the Hagues in the Nertherland and demand restitution.Next we have to work on the recognition of the Republic of
    Karabagh and the strengtening of Armenia s economy to be able to have armenians going back to Armenia and to increase the population which will
    strenghten the army.We have to get rid of all those Mafia s and Oligarks who
    are destroying Armenia s economy and enslaving the Armenian people.

  24. More of the same. Throw us Armenians a bone but don’t call it what it is: genocide. The US is in the Turks pocket, more so with Obama than even with previous presidents.

  25. Slow, slow progress. At least Obama said “massacred” and “marched to their deaths” instead of the wimpy “died”. Compare other April 24th declarations. I agree that history is history, facts are facts and Obama shouldn’t shy from using the ‘G’ word. But do we need to horsewhip him for his less than perfect statement? Slow slow progress.

    • I can see you point, but I still cant give him a pass on yet again breaking his promise.

  26. I was confident that President Obama would never insult his brothers Turks, and use the word of Armenian Genocide. Therefore, I advise my brothers and sisters not to vote for democratic party any more as they betrayed us and didn’t fulfill their pledge while they were in Senate and running for presidency. No trust period. Oh, we use to vote for democratics but not any more.

  27. Continued…
    WHAT DO I ACTUALLY MEAN BY RE-ORGANIZATION,especially in Diaspora,but also Homeland?
    Here goes.
    As we are well aware of what is going on in the Region(why also in the whole world).Simply put …getting well ARMED!!! Azerbaijan, Iran(oh near forgot gredat Turkey-this latter since 50 and more yrs being SUPPORTED TO GET ARMED)
    So? what of it.
    Our ,not only geographic area, but also our ¨other¨ proprieties have been ,like a Brit would say¨¨You are not wanted here¨..do you follow what I mean to say?
    Like in the old days mahatma Gandhi or Dr. Mohammad Mossadeh of iran was also in that position…¨¨you are not wanted here¨Thence…
    We really must get serious about it at least N O W.For it is not the 1920´s 1945¨s8cheated by great Russia too btw-you see I do not take sides with any of the Easst West or Euros…all have pursued ONLY their interests,dumping us for theirs..
    Time to ¨Stapvel¨¨ means to sort of wake up!!!!!
    In on of my articles still on …www.armeniannews.info…..I hint that the Gov.t of RA should issue special residency passports to our youth who go to RA8not as ususal ,i.e, tourists and or on pilgrimage at most) but to also,besides language, culture undergo military cadet training alongside the recruits…this is essential.In Diaspora we have good sportmen homenetmen this that but ,what I ´m suggesting is something else.We boast that we have 6 or 7 million Diasporans……
    Also said advocacy of mine has not opposition as to what our dear establishments and or political parties are doing ,have done so far and will do ,I hope.But we must look into the issue of above regional ARMING OR REARMING VERY VERY SERIOUSLY.
    Ask yourselves,why no any state, whether allies or non so does not say anything or oppose GREAT TURKEY OR AZERBAIJAN´s getting ARMED CONSTENTLY…WHILE WE ONLY SHOW WHAT our tiny Homeland has recently accomplished. How about the allmighty Armenian Diaspora? or is it?
    My other important issue is the ESTABLISHMENT OF THE …
    National Investment Trust Fund,by our professional Colleageus Associations.

  28. ‘Medz Yeghern’*
    Shan’t Be Uttered by Others
    Hence ‘Genocide’ and Further Forth

    ____________________
    “Every Language has a soul
    Every language has its own roar
    Exhales inside its cavernous’ core
    Can you learn languages all!
    Each language vibrates a soul.”**

    Sylva-MD-Poetry
    ___________________________________

    President O.B should not use a phrase he can’t understand,
    He is a poet, judge, lawyer, he must be criticized.

    Medz Yeghern for us are two horrible words 
    Not every one can realize 
    Something more than calamity…
    Massacres…Tragedy…Disaster… or even Genocide
    ‘A Killing Plague’
    Deep painfulness can create endless anguish phrases lexicons
    Not felt with everyone yet to be invented…

    Affected and still affecting 
    Lives of our cohorts
    Like the end of the world
    Hence…Translation has no meaning at all 
    Maybe for others, Thus never for us.
    The word ‘calamity’ seems an ant facing a starving tiger…lion 
    A phrase can’t heed torments.
     
    Can any human being translate 
    What’s in their deep, scorned-mind 
    How much they love their mothers
    And their lost motherland!

    So please Dr. President
    Calm your bemused sense
    Don’t behave tenaciously
    Don’t sell your philosophy
    On the graves of seared lives
    Don’t please your and our enemies
    Don’t pretend to be deaf to what’ is really bleeding
    Under the rain and on the streets sunken in mud.
    To run your shiny-wheeled political cart…!
     
    Don’t enunciate a phrase.
    You did with your tongue
    But can never pronounce through your chest
    As you never walked with hungry bare injured soles,

    Did the criminal gendarmes’ assaults,
    They enjoyed smashing human vital organs,
    Drive you to an unknown destiny
    Near red-rivers filled with bones,
    To see smashed innocent faces from your blood with
    Crushed lacrimating eyes outside prayers’ skulls.

    Tell me, “How can you feel the pain
    Of something you never have faced or felt!”
    How can you utter
    That horrible phrase!

    Please OB understand that, ‘We Love You’—
    ‘ge sirenk kez’—©— ‘kez ge sirenk’
    We are not here to insult someone
    Who made us promises and said that was ‘a real genocide’;
    Don’t act like a lover who changed his promise
    Because of another who betrays and fires fears.

    Your promise stagnated in our hearts.
    We heartlessly cry
    We can only say,
    “Also You …
    The Son of darling Stanley-Ann, betrayed Us and Why!”

    Each time we hear Medz Yeghern
    We can witness a pointed, poisoned Turkish scimitars
    Entering our already injured heart-valves.
    Tearing our creed.

    Regretful that we possess
    So naïve a soulful-faith!
    Not every race could sincerely grace…!

    June 19, 2010
    __________________________________________________________

    * Medz Yeghern: Armenian phrase used by President Barak Obama on the Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day on April 24, 2010 instead of using the word Genocide he used word ‘calamity’ just after four months from inauguration day on April 24, 2009, But he had clearly said the word Genocide before inauguration!

    Obama meant to please the second generation of the new-Ottomans
    in spite of 44 out of 50 American States recognizing the Armenian genocide.

    ** Every language has a soul,
    from the author’s sixth poetry collections
    Sons: Take My Heart and Transplant, 2009

  29. You Mr President are insulting the memory of my ancestors.
    Where is your promisse. Is the American foreign policy dictated by Ankara
    We are tired of your lies
    SHAME !!!

  30. This is a beggining sentence of your paragraph from todays Statement (I have consistently stated my own view of what occurred in 1915. …)

    Mr. President….and you consistently have not used the word “GENOCIDE” on your own view of what occured in 1915.

  31. Mr. President, With all due respect, why is the G word so hard for you to write or say? It is spelled “G-E-N-O-C-I-D-E”. Denying the reality of that word, or substituting “Medz Yeghern”, as you have chosen to do, does not erase what happened to my ancestors during the first GENOCIDE of the 20th century.

  32. We will never quit the fight for justice, the fight for the recognition of the Armenian genocide, even if 100 years passes or all the borders between the Turkey and Armenia are opened. This fight is for the innocent victims of a great tragedy; for their souls to rest in peace..

  33. President Ronald Reagan, Proclamation 4838 on Days of Remembrance of Victims of the Holocaust, April 22, 1981:

    “Like the genocide of the Armenians before it, and the genocide of the Cambodians which followed it — and like too many other such persecutions of too many other peoples — the lessons of the Holocaust must never be forgotten.”

    And what essentially happened after this US president uttered the g-word in 1981? We received back our lands in Western Armenia? We continue receiving financial compensation for the wholesale damage done to us by the Turks? Turks have now become a remorseful nation and offered apologies to us for near-extermination of the whole nation? What happened after the g-word was uttered?!

  34. Hey, ahmet the idiot:

    On this solemn day of remembrance of innocent Armenian victims of Ottoman Turkish barbarity, you could, if you know what sanctity is at all, at least hold up posting comments. The whole Armenian nation and our many sympathizers throughout the world grieve today. Can you understand this?

    P.S. Even with no word “genocide” in it, what does this proclamation by a non-Armenian tell you about your nation, especially in this passage: “[…]we honor the memory of the 1.5 million Armenians who were brutally massacred or marched to their deaths in […] the Ottoman Empire”? Does this tell you anything about your nation?

  35. necati bey
    It is known to the world as Constantinople, the capital of Eastern Christiandom, before it was turkified to “Istanbul”.

    By the way, it is spelled ARARAT not Agri. Do you know that?

  36. Dear Gaytzak Palanjian
    Clarification from an Urmetsi
    Background of Iranian Azeris(so called Azeri Turks)
    There is differences between Osmalu (Istambuli) turks an Iranian Azeri-Turks in Iran
    Iranian Azeri Turks, historically, prior to their Turkification, like all the inhabitants of Persian Azerbaijan, were derived from earlier Persian Iranic tribes, such as the Meds. Ancestors of these people were neither Turks, nor were they related to inhabitants of Caucasus, now the Republic of Azerbaijan
    The Istabuli Turks are Sonni and Azeris are Shia
    Iranian Azeris directly didn’t participated in Armenian Genocide, There are many inteligent prominant Iranian-Azeris in Iran that have nothing to do with Crimes commited by ottoman and Young Turks. Atlthough After Turks army invaded Iran some of Azeri fanatics under influences and persuation or even threat byTurks Army, they helped Turks on their plundering and crimes against the Christians population in Urmia, Salmas, Khoy and other places of Azerbaijan
    Dr. Babajanian
    USA
    Born in Urmia

  37. So President Obama once again betrayed his pledge to recognize the Genocide of Armenians and call it what it was.

    I know my comments will outrage my fellow Armenians but WHO CARES? are we really surprised? why the outrage? let’s call a spade a spade.

    Obama is not the first and most certainly will not be the last American President to p…ledge and later betray his pledge.

    Let’s review the facts.

    It is not in the interest of the U.S.A. to recognize the Armenian Genocide and offend the present day government of Turkey because they have mutual secret interests which are not made public.

    it is not in the interest of the U.S.A. to recognize the Armenian Genocide and risk offending Israel its closeset Ally who claims exclusivity on Holocaust as if no other race in this world suffered Genocide.

    As Armenians we should concentrate our efforts and energy on finding a solution to the problem of the exodus of Armenians from our homeland…. I do not have to lecture you on why? and on how many have left Armenia since its second Independence: you all know these facts as well as I do.

    If we wait for the U.S.A. and Israel to recognize the Armenian Genocide and demand the return of our historical lands and ignore the problem of the exodus at the alarming rate it is happening, there will be no one left in the country to live on those lands.

    LET’S WAKE UP AND SMELL THE COFFEE

    I am Hrad Poladian
    and this is my humble opinion

  38. Who remembers the (genocide of the) Armenians? Clearly, not Pres. Obama or his aides, nor any of the staff at the Holocaust museum, or anyone else involved with this circus. They won’t say it publicly, no matter what they might think. Once again, the tail (Turkey) wags the dog (the US). Very sad indeed. Armenians have every right to be thoroughly upset and insulted by this undeserved slight at the museum – on April 23 – a day that has nothing to do with the holocaust at all – because it overshadowed his pathetic statement on the 24th. Let’s just say, we will not forget this, Mr. Obama…we will not forget.

  39. Mr. President:

    If in your April 23 “Never Again” Speech at the US Holocaust Museum, in which you said not a word about the Armenian genocide, you would consistently use the word “Shoah” instead of “Holocaust”, how do you think it’d sound to the Jewish-Americans? Well, using “Medz Yeghern” instead of “Genocide” is exactly how it sounds to the Armenian-Americans. The difference being that the Jewish genocide has been recognized by the US government.

  40. Pendulums
    Between the Genocide of the 1,500,000 Armenian people by the Ottomans during the early parts of the 20th century and the equally unrecognized and comparably proportioned Exodus of 1,000,000 Armenians from the Republic of Armenia during the later parts of the same 20th century, it is only a matter of time for the Armenia’s Spring, to rebuild Strongest Armenian Homeland again, as King Dikran The Great did and in just single generation two millenniums ago…. Yes, it is only a matter of time, until such an inspiring leader of will rise once again….in this 21st century of ours perhaps, or beyond….

    Yes, meanwhile, gutless leaders will continue their never ending hollow debates

    • The latest Turkish/AXEbeijani tactics is to go to very old comments & throw in their nonsense utterly disgusting CUP excuses for committing the Genocide.I wonder how much they get paid for each denialist comment.Ottoman sultans never trusted their own Muslim kins & the proof of the pudding is for almost 400 years their top government ministers, ministries’ top officials were Armenian pashas & beys.The sultans knew very well their own back stabbing Muslim (using ‘Turk’ then wan an insult & now an honor…what a mockery)kins & they never ever trusted them.
      Never be surprised when the Turkish suddenly collapses as it is based on lies & myth.Who could have imagined the collapse of the Soviet Union.They had their Lenin & these denialists have their Kemal.

  41. Dear Mr. President,
    Well, you know in 1776 the African’s came to the United States to work until utter physical exhaustion or beaten to an early death. Now the argument goes were they sold by their own people or taken by force. I believe that these people TRUSTED that were going to be treated with kindness and equality. They were, however, sadly mistaken. What a travesty.

    Perhaps the Armenian people TRUSTED their Turkish neighbors and felt they were being moved or deported. How is it that people they worked for and, loved could do anything to harm them? No. Perhaps though they were going to be cared for and treated fairly. Again, they were sadly mistaken.

    • Dear Tina,
      I won’t be surprised in the next April 24, if he utter the word of ‘Büyük Felâket’, now you figure that out and translate into English!! the Harvard graduated Mr. President, knows how to manipulate the word of GENOCIDE. He knows well, that Armenians are not stupid people, but he also knows how to create a word and level himself with a scholar like Raphael Lemkin and open a can of worms, for those hungry Turkish delight loving individuals, and her supporters!!

    • Dear Tina, can I suggest that you read Justin McCarthy’s Death and Exile. Turks think that their grandparents trusted their Armenian neighbours but were betrayed, because your grandparents decided to support invaders with the hope of being able to rule in Eastern Anatolia and Cilicia although they did not form the majority of the population. Turkish people did not suffer less than your grandparents. Please make an attempt to see the other side of the coin as well.

    • Selma, there are serious flaws in your thinking (and Mr. McCarthy’s) that our peoples suffered equally:

      A small percentage of the Armenian population rose up against the centuries long oppression by their Ottoman conquerors. Why punish an entire population of innocent women, children and elderly for the freedom fighting acts of a few among them? Are you aware that many Armenians fought along side Turks during WWI only to later find out that their families back home were being massacred and deported while they risked their lives for the empire at the Front?

      If the suffering was “equal” then where are all the Armenians that once occupied the Armenian vilayets of Asia Minor? What happened to the millions of Armenians? And if the fight was between Turks and ‘traitorous’ Armenians, then why were the Pontic Greeks and Assyrians also targeted with massacre and deportation? Where are these once indigenous peoples who created the culture you adopt as your own today?

      Why were the Ottoman Christians’ properties seized after they were deported ‘for security reasons’ and redistributed to Turks, clearly indicating that the government already knew their owners could not return after the war to reclaim what was illegally taken from them?

      If these actions were taken by the Ottomans because they were defending the empire, why has Turkey for so long gone to such great lengths to deny these events, which clearly you believe to be ‘self-defense?’ Or why not condemn these actions as being crimes of a preceding government and disavow any connection to it? Could it be that Turkey profited so greatly from what was confiscated from the empire’s Christian population that it is implicated in the crime?

      I could go on and we could talk about the thousands of churches, schools, businesses, changed village names, kidnapped children raised as Muslims, hidden Armenians, the Armenian DNA that is found in many Turks today…. So many questions and such incomplete and unsatisfactory answers offered by Turkey.

      Selma, try to see the truth behind the propaganda you so willingly believe. This is not a story of two warring factions, but of a government that turned against its own unarmed Christian population in order to create a Turkey for Turks.

  42. I am soooo tired of those who want to put direct responsibility on Pres. Obama. EVERY…EVERY Pres. before him has done the exact same thing for the exact same reason. Bang your head against the wall yet again and again and ask yourself, “how come I have a headache”??
    Definition of insanity..”doing the same thing again and again and expect a different result”. Take two aspirins and DON’T call me in the morning. Tired of all the whining.

    • No one puts responsibility directly on President Obama. Everyone knows what behind-the-scene sinister forces and secret societies manipulate this country’s political establishment, including the PONTUS. But President Obama PROMISSED to recognize the Armenian genocide. Thus all the anger, which you call “whining”, on the part of the Armenian-Americans. Wanna live without headache? Don’t visit these pages or engage in any Armenian activism or consider changing your national identity to Turkish. Simple.

    • John, Guess you don’t read much. PROMISES, PROMISES Everyone puts responsibility on Obama and wont vote for him again. He already won both elections. Going around in the same circle again, another headache. I’ll live without a headache when you have a head to ache. Are you also suggesting I censor myself from these pages? Such a debater. Don’t tell me where to write unless your a coward and can’t see past your anger. No POTUS will ever change there posturing on Turkey. Too bad you cant change your identity since you don’t have one. No. wait…Peter Pan. Asking for me to change to a Turk furthers challenges your ability to speak with a positive message.

  43. Only one president in recent times mentioned “Armenian Genocide” while in the white house.The late Great Ronald Reagan.

  44. It is a shame that a president makes so many blunders in his official proclamation. Besides the borrowed word “medz yeghern” that he chooses to use instead of the legal English equivalent in his English-language proclamation addressed to English-speaking American people, there are several others:

    1. [Armenians who were brutally massacred or marched to their deaths].
    Armenians were brutally massacred AND marched to their deaths. First, all able-bodied males were massacred AND then women, children, elders, and the infirm were taken to death marches and were murdered, raped, and mutilated en route.

    2. […in the waning days of the Ottoman Empire].
    The year 1915 was not the “waning days of the Ottoman Empire”. The Empire officially dissolved EIGHT YEARS after 1915.

    3. [A full, frank, and just acknowledgement of the facts is in all of our interests].
    I don’t’ see how it is in all of our interests if my president himself fails to fully, frankly, and justly acknowledge the fact as Genocide.

    4. [We applaud those Armenians and Turks who have taken this path (moving forward with the future)].
    That some Turks come forward and acknowledge the crime of their predecessors in order to cleanse their nation and move forward, I can understand. But what is it that’s expected from the Armenians, who fell victims of Ottoman Turkish barbarity, to do in order to move forward with the future? To say: “thank you for annihilating 2 million of our compatriots and stealing our lands and properties”?

    5. […and we hope that many more will choose it, with the support of their governments, as well as mine.]
    The President of the US can only speak for his government, not other governments. If he so wishes to speak for other governments, let him recall the courageous governments of France, Canada, Russia, Italy, Greece, and many others that acknowledged the Armenian Genocide.

    6. [On this solemn day of remembrance, we stand alongside all Armenians […] in committing to bringing a brighter future to the people of Armenia.]
    One such commitment would be honoring your own commitment, Mr. President, in acknowledging the Armenian GENOCIDE, and not using an adjectival phrase that only Armenians use as a synonym to Genocide. At least have courage to use “Tseghaspanutyun” instead of “Medz Yeghern” next time, if you so like borrowed words.

  45. the comment by Selma Asian that “Turkish people did not suffer less than your grandparents.” is not only highly offensive, but a clear indication of this persons’ complete ignorance of their own history. I suggest that this individual consult the writing of any competent historian in the world who is not on the Turkish propaganda payroll. Or, start with the writing of some of the many highly informed, independent, world journalists, like Robert Fisk before posting such pathetically ignorant comments.

    • Dear Perouz,
      Thanks for reading my comment. My family comes from Erzurum, and my grandmother had to flee from Erzurum when the city was occupied in 1916 after Sarikamish Tragedy ( ei. victory for you as war is such a thing!). I saw how terrified she was in her eyes, when she said we became migrants. While 800.000 Armenians moved southward, 800.000 Muslim moved westward evacuating the Caucasus Front area. Yet one million Muslims were still left behind and they suffered very heavily. Can I suggest that you read some third party sources such as I Witnessed and Lived Through by Colonel Tverdohlebov available at http://armeniangenocidefacts.com/category/i-witnessed-and-lived-through/ . Thanks for your suggestion about Robert Fisk. I read his article of 12 May, which inspired me to write a blog post which I will publish soon. Dialogue is very important. İf we talk to each other we understand each other’s case better.

  46. Too bad about your grandmother, Selma. Take it up with the perpetrators of the Armenian Genocide – Turkey. Unlike Turkey, the Armenians have nothing to apologize for. My grandmother was stoned to death by your people. All the women and children in my father’s family were brutally murdered, as well as all the adult men, except for one. My mother’s entire family except for 2 young girls was butchered. The ignorance you profess about your own history is pathetic. Try reading Taner Akcam – a Turk – From Empire to Republic, and learn what a more enlightened Turk, one who is not fuelled by propaganda, can teach you. In the meantime, stop equating your country’s self-inflicted, minimal, suffering with the devestation it caused in its destruction of an ancient nation and the murder of almost 2 million innocent people. Not only is it highly offensive, it is a position that is ridiculed and quickly dismised by accredited historians world-wide. The site you referred me to is not worthy of comment by any intelligent person. It is simply Turkish propaganda; the position of Genocide deniers who profited by mass murder.

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