"As President Barack Obama plans his trip to Turkey next month, we would like to express our support for this decision," said Armenian Assembly of America (Assembly) Executive Director Bryan Ardouny. "An irreversible trend has commenced in Turkey and President Obama's visit presents a unique opportunity for the President to reinforce this message, as well as his own statements reaffirming the historical truth of the Armenian Genocide."

The Assembly wholeheartedly agrees with President Obama, Vice President Biden and Secretary of State Clinton that the Armenian Genocide is an historical fact that must be affirmed. As then Senator Obama stated "America deserves a leader who speaks truthfully about the Armenian Genocide and responds forcefully to all genocides."

The Assembly looks forward to change in Washington, including the repudiation and reversal of the Bush Administration's doctrine that disallowed State Department officials to publicly acknowledge the Armenian Genocide, and what our own U.S. Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, Henry Morgenthau, described as a campaign of race extermination.

The Assembly is encouraged by the recent signs of rapprochement between Turkey and Armenia, and commends Armenia's President Serzh Sargsyan for his bold actions. Normalization of relations and Turkey's lifting of its 15-year long blockade of Armenia should not be held hostage to U.S. reaffirmation of the Armenian Genocide.