Obama marks 1915 Armenian massacre, avoids genocide label

NowLebanon.com, Lebanon
April 24 2010

Obama marks 1915 Armenian massacre, avoids genocide label
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.

Obama described the massacres 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.

The carefully worded comments come one month after a row with Ankara
after the US House of Representatives’ Foreign Affairs Committee
adopted a resolution labeling the massacre as genocide. Ankara
recalled its ambassador from Washington in early March in protest, but
he returned to the US capital one month later.

-AFP/NOW Lebanon