OBAMA URGES ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF MASSACRE OF ARMENIANS
Xinhua
April 24 2012
China
WASHINGTON, April 24 (Xinhua) — U.S. President Barack Obama on
Tuesday called for a “full, frank and just acknowledgment” of the
brutal massacre of 1.5 million Armenians at the hands of Ottoman
Turks in 1915.
“I have consistently stated my own view of what occurred in 1915. My
view of that history has not changed,” the president said in a written
statement on the 97th anniversary of the massacre.
“A full, frank and just acknowledgment of the facts is in all of our
interests,” he said, stressing that “moving forward with the future
cannot be done without reckoning with the facts of the past.”
“We applaud those Armenians and Turks who have taken this path,
and we hope that many more will choose it, with the support of their
governments as well as mine,” he added.
Thousands of Armenians including President Serzh Sargsyan gathered
around a special monument in Yerevan, capital of Armenia, on Tuesday
to commemorate what they call the Armenian genocide.
On April 24, 1915, several hundred Armenian intellectuals were arrested
overnight by the Ottoman Empire, most of them were executed summarily
while others were sent into exile, according to Armenian historians.
That was followed by mass deportations of Armenians from the eastern
regions of Turkey, and an estimated 1.5 million Armenians were killed
from 1915 to 1923, the historians say.
More than 20 countries and 43 U.S. states have officially recognized
the Armenian genocide. However, the Turkish government has denied
the genocide allegations.
“Today, we commemorate the Meds Yeghern, one of the worst atrocities
of the 20th century,” Obama said, using the term by the Armenians to
refer to the genocide.
“In doing so, we honor the memory of the 1.5 million Armenians who
were brutally massacred or marched to their deaths in the waning days
of the Ottoman Empire,” he remarked.
“Through our words and our deeds, it is our obligation to keep the
flame of memory of those who perished burning bright and to ensure
that such dark chapters of history are never repeated,” he said.
Editor: Mu Xuequan
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
