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The Washington Post: Will Obama Recognize Armenian Genocide?

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  • The Washington Post: Will Obama Recognize Armenian Genocide?

    THE WASHINGTON POST: WILL OBAMA RECOGNIZE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE?

    PanARMENIAN.Net
    20.03.2009 21:14 GMT+04:00

    /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.
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