President Obama, concerned about hurting relations with Turkey as violence and unrest continues in the Middle East, has jettisoned a campaign promise to use the word “genocide” to refer to the mass killings of Armenians in 1915.
Obama in campaigning for president in 2008 pledged to recognize the Armenian genocide if elected. He plans to mark the centennial this Friday but is carefully avoiding referring to the systematic killings of more than 1 million ethnic Armenians in 1915.
White House spokesman Eric Schultz on Wednesday read a prepared statement to the press, saying “a full frank and just acknowledgment of the facts is in everybody’s interests,” and encouraging Turkey to join in that.
He noted the strategic partnership with Turkey but when asked if the relationship was so fragile that using the word “genocide” would damage it, he demurred.
“I know there are some who are hoping to hear different language this year and we understand their perspective even as we believe the approach we’ve taken in previous years remains the right one for acknowledging the past and for our ability to work with these regional partners in the present,” he said.
In 1915 the Ottoman government engaged in a systematic extermination of minority Armenian subjects in territory that is now Turkey.
After it became clear that Obama would break the campaign promise this week, Armenian-American groups, expressed deep disappointment and accused the president of outsourcing America’s policy to Turkish President Recep Erdogan.
“President Obama’s surrender to Turkey represents a national disgrace,” said Ken Hachikian, president of the Armenian National Committee of America. “It is, very simply, a betrayal of truth, a betrayal of trust.”
“With the world’s attention drawn this April 24th to worldwide Armenian Genocide Centennial commemorations, President Obama will, tragically, use the moral standing of our nation not to defend the truth, but rather to enforce of a foreign power’s gag-rule. He has effectively outsourced America’s policy on the Armenian Genocide to Recep Erdogan,” he continued.
