WHITE HOUSE SHOWS NO SIGNS OF SAYING ‘GENOCIDE’

Wall Street Journal
April 16 2015

The White House signaled Thursday that President Barack Obama won’t
use the word “genocide” to describe the killing of 1.5 million
Armenians at the hands of Ottoman Empire — continuing to break a
longstanding pledge.

As a candidate for office, Mr. Obama said he would use the word
“genocide” to describe the killings. In a strongly worded statement
in 2008, Mr. Obama said: “The Armenian Genocide is not an allegation,
a personal opinion, or a point of view, but rather a widely documented
fact supported by an overwhelming body of historical evidence.

He added: “As president I will recognize the Armenian Genocide.”

But since taking office, geopolitical concerns about the strategic
relationship with Turkey have kept the Obama administration from
fulfilling that 2008 promise. Turkey, a key U.S. ally in the Middle
East, has long opposed legislative efforts around the world to address
whether the killings were in fact genocide.

The White House has been under pressure to use the term this year —
the 100th anniversary of the killings — but a spokesman said Thursday
that there was no shift in its longstanding policy to eschew the
term genocide.

“The president and other senior administration officials have
repeatedly acknowledged as historical fact that 1.5 million Armenians
were massacred or marched to their deaths in the finals days of the
Ottoman Empire,” White House press secretary Josh Earnest said.

“We’ve further stated that we mourn those deaths and that a full,
frank, and just acknowledgement of the facts is in the interest of
everybody, including Turkey, Armenia and the United States,” he added.

But Mr. Earnest said the longstanding position of the U.S. of avoiding
the term would likely remain in place when the White House puts out
a statement later this month.

“I have consistently stated my own view of what occurred in 1915, and
my view has not changed,” Mr. Obama said last year, without using term
“genocide.”

Turkey says the issue of whether the killings were genocide isn’t
for modern-day governments to decide, contests the number of deaths,
and argues those killed were casualties of a larger armed conflict.

On Sunday, Pope Francis referred to the mass killings as the “first
genocide of the 20th century,” angering Turkey.