The Washington Post: will Obama recognize Armenian Genocide?

PanARMENIAN.Net - During last year's presidential campaign, Barack Obama repeatedly insisted that, as president, he would "recognize the Armenian genocide." Obama's pledge may have been smart politics. But now that Obama is president, his pledge has put him in a diplomatically difficult position. The question of calling the deaths a genocide has returned just as Obama is preparing for a visit next month to Turkey, which firmly rejects such a label.



"There is no substitute for speaking plainly when you are talking about mass murder," said Rep. Adam B. Schiff, who introduced this week a resolution calling on the president to publicly recognize a genocide and whose district contains the largest concentration of Armenian Americans in the country. "I hope he will use the opportunity to prepare Turkey for U.S. recognition and to encourage Turkey to have an open examination of its past."



U.S.-Turkish relations are on an upswing after a dismal period immediately after the invasion of Iraq. Turkey, a NATO member, also plays an increasingly important role in the Middle East, the Caucasus and the Balkans. Ahmet Davutoglu, the chief foreign policy adviser to Prime Minister Recip Tayyip Erdogan, said he stressed that point in meetings this week with senior administration officials. He also made the case that Turkish-Armenian relations are improving in the wake of Erdogan's recent visit to Armenia, and that any U.S. resolution on genocide would only set back that progress.



But the administration's outreach to Turkey must be balanced against the high hopes that Obama inspired among Armenian Americans, Washington Post reported.