On the Trail with Barack Obama
April 4, 2009 Saturday 1:29 PM EST

Turkey Hoping Obama Will Fulfill Campaign Promise

Apr. 4, 2009 (Today With President Barack Obama delivered by Newstex)
— FT: Turkey is to make a concerted diplomatic push to resolve a
long-standing dispute with Armenia. Ankara hopes its efforts will not
only improve relations with Yerevan but also convince Washington to
step back from a decision that could affect US-Turkish ties.

Only days before President Barack Obama visits Turkey, the state
broadcaster TRT yesterday launched Armenian language radio programmes
– a gesture of goodwill to its neighbour.

Mr Obama has long promised to classify the 1915-1923 massacres of up
to 1.5m Armenians on present day Turkish soil as genocide. He faces a
test on April 24, the Armenian day of remembrance, when the US
president traditionally issues a statement. Meanwhile, 89 members of
the US House of Representatives have backed a resolution to recognise
the killings as genocide.

Turkey’s successful effort to defeat a similar resolution in 2007
focused on warnings the US risked its continued use of an airbase in
Incirlik – a logistics hub for Iraq.Will Obama officially recognize
Armenian genocide?

WSJ: When President Barack Obama visits Turkey tomorrow, millions of
Americans hope that he will fulfill a campaign promise by preparing
the Turkish government for official American recognition of the
Armenian genocide of 1915-23.

No American president since World War II has come into office with a
stronger understanding of the facts about this terrible chapter in
history. And no president has a greater track record of speaking
plainly about it: As a presidential candidate, Mr. Obama argued
forcefully throughout the campaign that "America deserves a leader who
speaks truthfully about the Armenian genocide and responds forcefully
to all genocides."

His words reflected a powerful personal commitment. In 2006, for
example, our ambassador to Turkey, John Evans, was recalled for using
the term "genocide" to describe the events of 1915-23. In a letter to
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on July 28 of that year, then
Sen. Obama described the official U.S. position on the events of
1915-23 — which is not to describe them as a genocide — as
"untenable." He reminded Ms. Rice that "the occurrence of the Armenian
genocide in 1915 is not an ‘allegation,’ a ‘personal opinion,’ or a
‘point of view.’ Supported by overwhelming evidence, it is a widely
documented fact."

"Words matter," as Mr. Obama said on Feb. 16, 2008. And genocide has a
particular power, encompassing within a single word a crime of
unsurpassed barbarity — the effort to destroy an entire people. When
Holocaust survivor Rafael Lemkin coined the term during World War II,
he drew on the Ottoman campaign to annihilate the Armenians, in which
over 1.5 million perished, as a paradigmatic example. It is no wonder
that the International Association of Genocide Scholars and all
credible historians (outside Turkey) have agreed that this was the
first genocide of the 20th century.Keith Ellison of Minnesota, the
first Muslim elected to congress, talks about the significance of
Obama’s trip to Turkey