Barack Obama lost his second opportunity to affirm Armenian Genocide

PanARMENIAN.Net - US President Barack Obama's April 24 statement is his second lost opportunity to affirm the Armenian Genocide. On the first occasion, his visit to the Republic of Turkey, the President stated that his view on the Armenian Genocide was well known and remained unchanged, yet he chose not to utter the word "genocide". Ross Vartian, Executive Director US-Armenia Public Affairs Committee (USAPAC) stated.





"The President then urged the Turkish government and people to face this history, just as America had done with African-Americans and Native Americans. On the second occasion, the solemn remembrance day of April 24, President Obama failed to affirm his record as Senator and his repeated pledges as candidate for the presidency to characterize this crime against humanity by its proper name, the Armenian Genocide. Instead, the President committed his administration to fully support the normalization of relations between Armenia and Turkey "without preconditions and within a reasonable timeframe". While a laudable objective, normal relations between these nations and an open Armenian-Turkish border are not substitutes for the United States affirming its own voluminous history on the Armenian Genocide and its directly linked global responsibility to help end the scourge of genocide. President Obama knows very well and has eloquently acknowledged that as long as genocide denial is tolerated that the act of genocide itself continues, as it does for Armenians on this day of commemoration and remembrance," USAPAC reported to PanARMENIAN.Net