Who Blew Up the Armenian Genocide Memorial Church in Deir el-Zour?

Sam Hardy

 

Fifty days after the destruction of the Armenian Genocide Martyrs’ Memorial Church in Deir el-Zour, Robert Fisk has reported it in the Independent, but his article is riddled with peculiarities, mistakes, and historical inconsistencies.

Peculiarities and mistakes

For one thing, the report feels strangely timed. It declares that the “act of sacrilege will cause huge pain” to Armenians around the world — seven weeks after the attack was lamented by political and religious representatives of the aggrieved community.

The Birth of ‘Great Calamity’: How ‘Medz Yeghern’ Was Introduced onto the World Stage

Vartan Matiossian

 

… Listen, O Lord, to the lament that rises from this place,
to the call of the dead from the depths of the Metz Yeghérn …
–John Paul II (2001)
 

Words matter. Some people try to keep them meaningful, while others render them meaningless. And while some struggle to preserve memory, others fight to impose amnesia.

“Medz Yeghern”¹ is the most common term used by survivors of the Armenian Genocide and their descendants to identify what befell the Armenian nation in 1915. Over the past decade, American, European and Turkish news outlets have consistently translated Medz Yeghern as “Great Calamity.” The Turkish media has repeated this seemingly innocuous translation over and over again in an attempt to deny the genocidal intent inherent in the meaning the victims themselves have given to the phrase.

In a parallel development, influential Armenian-American writers and editors have uncritically adopted this translation. We have come to the point where many readers and writers, Armenian and non-Armenian alike, appear to be sincerely convinced that the word “yeghern” has meant “calamity” over the past hundred years. This article, the first in a series, will explore the birth of “calamity” after Pope John Paul II and President George W. Bush used Medz Yeghern.

Israel ya no puede ignorar la existencia del primer Holocausto

Este artículo del veterano periodista británico Robert Fisk apareció en el diario "The Independent" de Londres el 30 de enero de 2010. Existen numerosas declaraciones de las autoridades de Israel que prueban su rechazo del reconocimiento de la Catástrofe de 1915-1923 con el término jurídicamente aceptado de "genocidio". Ese rechazo se basa en las consideraciones geopolíticas del estado israelí y su alianza estratégica con Turquía, y hace caso omiso de las consecuencias éticas de ese rechazo. Fisk simpatiza con el sufrimiento de los palestinos y rechaza la unicidad del Holocausto judío, pero esto no es motivo para rechazar sus comentarios sobre esa falta de reconocimiento --con amplia cantidad de información-- con el argumento banal de "antisemitismo". Hemos tomado como punto de partida una versión (con numerosos errores, modificaciones y omisiones) publicada en el semanario "Armenia" de Buenos Aires (5 de febrero), que hemos  cotejado con el original en inglés para realizar lo que es prácticamente una nueva traducción.