BUSH COMMEMORATES ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

United Press International
Washington Times
April 24 2007

WASHINGTON April 24 (UPI) — U.S. President George W. Bush marked
the deaths of 1.5 million Armenians, calling the mass killings among
"the greatest tragedies of the 20th century."

"All who cherish freedom and value the sanctity of human life look
back on these horrific events in sorrow and disbelief," Bush said in
a statement Tuesday.

The mass deaths occurred in the waning years of the Ottoman Empire,
and Turkey has worked hard to keep the world from labeling the
killings genocide.

"Each year on this day, we pause to remember the victims of one of the
greatest tragedies of the 20th century, when as many as 1.5 million
Armenians lost their lives in the final years of the Ottoman Empire,
many of them victims of mass killings and forced exile," Bush said.

"The world must never forget this painful chapter of its history."