Agence France Presse
April 24, 2010 Saturday 7:02 PM GMT
Obama marks 1915 Armenian massacre, avoids ‘genocide’ label
Washington, April 24 2010
US President Barack Obama marked on Saturday the anniversary of the
1915 massacres of Armenians by Ottoman Turks by saying he was
encouraged by dialogue between Turkey and Armenia that would help
recognize their "common humanity."
Obama described the dark events of 95 years ago as "one of the worst
atrocities of the 20th century," but he stopped short of labeling the
killings a "genocide," despite vowing to use that exact term during
his 2008 run for the White House.
"I have consistently stated my own view of what occurred in 1915, and
my view of that history has not changed," the president said in a
White House statement on Armenian Remembrance Day.
The carefully worded comments comes after a row with Turkey when the
US House of Representatives’ Foreign Affairs Committee adopted a
resolution labeling the massacre a "genocide."
Ankara recalled its ambassador from Washington in early March in
protest, but he returned to the US capital one month later.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had urged the committee not to
hold the vote and said after its approval that "we do not believe the
full Congress will or should act on that resolution."
On Saturday Obama said that "it is in all of our interest to see the
achievement (of) a full, frank and just acknowledgment of the facts"
about the killings.
"The Meds Yeghern 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."
Tens of thousands of Armenians in Yerevan Saturday marked the mass
killings amid fresh tensions with Turkey following the collapse of
reconciliation efforts.
Despite the political tensions, this year also saw the anniversary
marked for the first time in Turkey, where human rights activists and
artists in Istanbul broke with taboo and commemorated the massacres.
Even as the reconciliation effort stalled, Obama said he was
"encouraged by the dialogue among Turks and Armenians, and within
Turkey itself, regarding this painful history.
"Together, the Turkish and Armenian people will be stronger as they
acknowledge their common history and recognize their common humanity."
Obama in his statement put the number of massacred Armenians at 1.5
million, the same figure Armenians use in counting their kin who they
say were systematically killed between 1915 and 1917 as the Ottoman
Empire, the predecessor of modern Turkey, was falling apart.
Turkey categorically rejects the genocide label and says between
300,000 and 500,000 Armenians and at least as many Turks perished in
civil strife as the empire crumbled.
Washington traditionally condemns the killings on their anniversary
each year, but has so far refrained from dubbing them a "genocide,"
wary not to strain relations with Turkey, a NATO member and a key ally
in the Middle East.
Obama avoided using the term in his first statement on Armenian
Remembrance Day as US president one year ago, as well as during his
visit to Turkey last April, instead calling for Armenia and Turkey to
build on fence-mending efforts.
But while on the campaign trail in 2008 he made a pledge to his
Armenian-American supporters to recognize the massacres as genocide if
elected president.
Turkey and Armenia signed a deal in October to establish diplomatic
relations and open their border.
But the process has hit the rocks, with Ankara accusing Yerevan of
trying to tweak the terms of the deal and Yerevan charging that Ankara
is not committed to ratifying the accord.