Obama cites `devastating chapter’ in Armenia past

Associated Press Online
April 24, 2010 Saturday 10:16 PM GMT

Candidate Barack Obama repeatedly promised he’d call the almost
century-old massacre of Armenians in Turkey a genocide. President
Obama twice now has refused to do so.

Commemorating Armenian Remembrance Day on Saturday, Obama called the
deaths of 1.5 million Armenians during World War I "one of the worst
atrocities" of the 20th century and "a devastating chapter" in
history. But he did not call it genocide.

Obama’s statement, issued as he and first lady Michelle Obama spent a
weekend getaway here in western North Carolina, earned him criticism
from all corners. The Turkish foreign minister said it was
"unacceptable," and activists took issue with the president’s tone in
marking the 95th anniversary of the start of the slaughter of
Armenians by Ottoman Turks.

It is "a devastating chapter in the history of the Armenian people,
and we must keep its memory alive in honor of those who were murdered
and so that we do not repeat the grave mistakes of the past," Obama
said in his statement.

Yet for a second year as president, Obama intentionally eschewed
calling it a genocide. Instead, he used an Armenian term used to
describe the first mass killing of the 20th century Meds Yeghern.

For Obama, referring to the killings as genocide could upend pledges
to have a closer partnership with Turkey, a vital ally in a critical
region. Steering around the word, however, put him at odds with his
own pledges to recognize the slaughter as genocide.

Marking the grim anniversary of the start of the killings, the
president said: "On this solemn day of remembrance, we pause to recall
that 95 years ago one of the worst atrocities of the 20th century
began."

The statement was less than the full and frank acknowledgment he
promised Jan. 19, 2008, when he vowed that as president, "I will
recognize the Armenian Genocide," and repeatedly used the word.

"I also share with Armenian Americans so many of whom are descended
from genocide survivors a principled commitment to commemorating and
ending genocide. That starts with acknowledging the tragic instances
of genocide in world history. As a U.S. senator, I have stood with the
Armenian American community in calling for Turkey’s acknowledgment of
the Armenian Genocide."

Saturday, activists and officials from across the spectrum were quick
to express disappointment.

"Today we join with Armenians in the United States and around the
world in voicing our sharp disappointment with the president’s failure
to properly condemn and commemorate the Armenian Genocide," Armenian
National Committee of America chairman Ken Hachikian said. "Sadly, for
the U.S. and worldwide efforts to end the cycle of genocide, he made
the wrong choice, allowing Turkey to tighten its gag-rule on American
genocide policy."

Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu called Obama’s statement
"not acceptable."

"If we are going to share griefs for humanitarian reasons, then we
would expect respect for our own grief as well," Davutoglu said.

And the Turkish Coalition of America said Obama’s statement does not
address "the equally tragic loss of even more Muslim lives in this
turbulent period of Ottoman history."

"Where does the ethnic cleansing of Ottoman Turks from the Balkans,
Eastern Turkey and the Caucasus with 5 million lost and 5.5 million
refugees come on the president’s list of ‘worst atrocities of the 20th
century?’" Turkish Coalition of America president G. Lincoln McCurdy
said.

Obama insisted he had not changed his view from the campaign, even as
he declined to state it.

"I have consistently stated my own view of what occurred in 1915, and
my view of that history has not changed," Obama said in his statement,
issued as he played golf at a mountaintop resort. "It is in all of our
interest to see the achievement a full, frank and just acknowledgment
of the facts."

Obama is closely watching as Turkey and Armenia approach an end to the
long-simmering feud between the nations. The two countries signed
agreements for reconciliation in October, but the deals still need to
be approved by their parliaments. The agreements call for the
establishment of diplomatic relations and the reopening of their
border.

The agreement, if ratified, would reopen the border Turkey closed in
1993 to protest Armenia’s war with neighboring Azerbaijan. The Turkish
parliament has held up ratification of the deal as Turkey presses for
a settlement between Armenia and Azerbaijan over a region in
Azerbaijan that has been under Armenian control since the war.

Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan welcomed Obama’s comments
but cautioned that Turkey would not take further steps to ratify the
protocols in parliament until there is peace between Armenia and
Azerbaijan. Turkey insists Armenia must withdraw its troops from
Nagorno Karabakh before Turkey could reopen its border.

White House officials in March unsuccessfully tried to block the
Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives from calling
the Ottoman-era killing of Armenians a genocide a move the
administration worried would imperil those talks.

As a result, Turkey recalled its ambassador to Washington, Namik Tan.
The ambassador has since returned to Washington.

Armenians say that 1.5 million Armenians were killed by Ottoman Turks
around the time of World War I. Armenians and several nations around
the world recognize it as the first genocide of the 20th century.

Turkey denies that the massacres were genocide, saying the death toll
is inflated and Armenians were killed in civil unrest as the Ottoman
Empire collapsed.