OBAMA AVOIDS CALLING ARMENIAN MURDERS ‘GENOCIDE’
By Michael Doyle
Fresno Bee
April 24 2009
CA
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama on Friday broke a campaign pledge
but mollified Turkey by recognizing the mass murder of Armenians
without using the diplomatically loaded term "genocide."
In a much-anticipated White House statement, Obama took note of the
"great atrocities" that occurred in the final years of the Ottoman
Empire between 1915 and 1923. While stating that 1.5 million Armenians
were "massacred or marched to their death," Obama insisted the most
important thing now is to look ahead.
"I strongly support efforts by the Turkish and Armenian people to
work through this painful history in a way that is honest, open,
and constructive," Obama said.
Text of Obama speech on Armenian Remembrance Day
Obama also twice used the Armenian phrase Meds Yeghern, which is
often translated as Great Calamity.
The most important part of Obama’s statement, though, was the one word
that was missing. Armenian-American activists and their political
allies instantly denounced the 389-word statement as a political
sell-out because it didn’t characterize the events as genocide.