Obama marks centennial of Armenia 'atrocity' (not 'genocide')
President Obama's statement on Friday's 100th anniversary of the mass killing in Armenia is out, and, as expected, it does not use the word "genocide."
It uses the word "atrocity."
"This year we mark the centennial of the Meds Yeghern, the first mass atrocity of the 20th Century," Obama says in his statement. "Beginning in 1915, the Armenian people of the Ottoman Empire were deported, massacred, and marched to their deaths. Their culture and heritage in their ancient homeland were erased. Amid horrific violence that saw suffering on all sides, one and a half million Armenians perished."
The president issues a similar statement at this time every year, and Armenian groups demand that he use the term "genocide" -- but Turkey, a key U.S. ally, objects to the term, and Obama has avoided it.
Aram Hamparian, executive director of the Armenian National Committee of America, notes that Obama had pledged to use the term genocide when he sought the presidency back in 2008.
"The sad spectacle of President Obama playing word games with genocide, so obviously dodging the truth at the direction of a foreign power, falls beneath the dignity of the American people," Hamparian says in commenting on this year's White House statement.
In the statement, Obama describes the 100th anniversary of the attack as a solemn moment:
"It calls on us to reflect on the importance of historical remembrance, and the difficult but necessary work of reckoning with the past.
"I have consistently stated my own view of what occurred in 1915, and my view has not changed. A full, frank, and just acknowledgement of the facts is in all our interests. Peoples and nations grow stronger, and build a foundation for a more just and tolerant future, by acknowledging and reckoning with painful elements of the past.
"We welcome the expression of views by Pope Francis, Turkish and Armenian historians, and the many others who have sought to shed light on this dark chapter of history.
"On this solemn centennial, we stand with the Armenian people in remembering that which was lost. We pledge that those who suffered will not be forgotten. And we commit ourselves to learn from this painful legacy, so that future generations may not repeat it."