White House Avoids Genocide Issue Ahead Of Turkey Trip

WHITE HOUSE AVOIDS GENOCIDE ISSUE AHEAD OF TURKEY TRIP

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Friday, April 3, 2009

PARIS (The White House)–Ahead of President Barack Obama’s trip to
Turkey, at a news briefing Friday aboard Air Force One en route to
France, the White House spokesperson avoided discussing the Armenian
Genocide when asked by a reporter to comment on the matter.

Responding to a reporter’s query on whether "the President still
believe[s] that the Turks committed genocide against the Armenians,"
White House spokesperson Robert Gibbs, said: "We’ll get into that I
think later on."

When pressed to comment further, Gibbs said: "I’ll leave that for–I
can’t give away everything in one gaggle, for goodness sakes."

Gibbs explained the trip to Turkey aimed to strengthen an important
relationship.

"I mean, again, I think it’s to strengthen an important relationship
and reach out to–and demonstrate the importance of–their importance
in our relationship and, again, issues that we have in common that
we want to work on. I mean, look, I think it’s an opportunity to
probably go also to a country that people may not have expected us
to visit on our first trip over here, and I think it’s an important
signal for the President," explained Gibb.