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SBS News, Australia
April 24 2014
Obama urges Armenia genocide recognition
US President Barack Obama has commended Armenians and Turks for
acknowledging "painful elements of the past".
AAP
US President Barack Obama says the "full, frank and just
acknowledgement" of facts surrounding the World War I mass killings of
Armenians in the Ottoman Empire is in everyone's interest.
In a statement on Thursday marking the 99th anniversary of the start
of the killings and deportations, Obama said the United States grieved
for the lives lost.
"A full, frank, and just acknowledgement of the facts is in all of our
interests," Obama said.
"Peoples and nations grow stronger, and build a foundation for a more
just and tolerant future, by acknowledging and reckoning with painful
elements of the past."
He added: "We continue to learn this lesson in the United States, as
we strive to reconcile some of the darkest moments in our own
history."
"We recognise and commend the growing number of courageous Armenians
and Turks who have already taken this path, and encourage more to do
so, with the backing of their governments, and mine," Obama said in
the statement that made no mention of the term "genocide".
In an unprecedented move described by Washington as a historic
gesture, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday
offered condolences over the massacres, calling them "our shared
pain".
Armenians say up to 1.5 million people were killed during World War I,
as the Ottoman Empire was falling apart, a claim supported by several
other countries.
http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2014/04/24/obama-urges-armenia-genocide-recognition
From: A. Papazian
April 24 2014
Obama urges Armenia genocide recognition
US President Barack Obama has commended Armenians and Turks for
acknowledging "painful elements of the past".
AAP
US President Barack Obama says the "full, frank and just
acknowledgement" of facts surrounding the World War I mass killings of
Armenians in the Ottoman Empire is in everyone's interest.
In a statement on Thursday marking the 99th anniversary of the start
of the killings and deportations, Obama said the United States grieved
for the lives lost.
"A full, frank, and just acknowledgement of the facts is in all of our
interests," Obama said.
"Peoples and nations grow stronger, and build a foundation for a more
just and tolerant future, by acknowledging and reckoning with painful
elements of the past."
He added: "We continue to learn this lesson in the United States, as
we strive to reconcile some of the darkest moments in our own
history."
"We recognise and commend the growing number of courageous Armenians
and Turks who have already taken this path, and encourage more to do
so, with the backing of their governments, and mine," Obama said in
the statement that made no mention of the term "genocide".
In an unprecedented move described by Washington as a historic
gesture, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday
offered condolences over the massacres, calling them "our shared
pain".
Armenians say up to 1.5 million people were killed during World War I,
as the Ottoman Empire was falling apart, a claim supported by several
other countries.
http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2014/04/24/obama-urges-armenia-genocide-recognition
From: A. Papazian