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US URGES 'FULL' ADMISSION OF FACTS IN ARMENIAN MASSACRE
GlobalPost
April 14 2015
Agence France-Presse
The United States Tuesday called for a "full, frank" acknowledgement
of the facts surrounding the mass killing of Armenians in World War I,
but shied away from calling it "a genocide."
Turkey has drawn a defiant red line in refusing to recognize the
mass killings of Armenians in World War I as "genocide" on the 100th
anniversary year of the tragedy.
And Ankara has hit out at Pope Francis for his use of the word in a
weekend address, with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan saying
"I condemn this mistake."
"The president and other senior administration officials have
repeatedly acknowledged as historical fact, and mourned the fact,
that 1.5 million Armenians were massacred or marched to their deaths
in the final days of the Ottoman empire," State Department acting
spokeswoman Marie Harf said.
They had also stated "that a full, frank and just acknowledgement
of the facts is in all our interests, including Turkey's, Armenia's
and America's."
Harf added that "nations are stronger and they progress by
acknowledging and reckoning with pretty painful elements of their
past."
Such moves were "essential to building a different, more tolerant
future," she said.
However, she refused to term the mass killings a genocide, even
though during his 2008 campaign for the White House, then senator
Barack Obama had pledged to "recognize the Armenian genocide."
Turkey is a key US ally and a fellow member of NATO.
Harf refused to be drawn on what candidate Obama had said, adding
reporters should check with the White House as she spoke for the
State Department.
Armenia and Armenians in the diaspora say 1.5 million of their
forefathers were killed by Ottoman forces in a targeted campaign
ordered by the military leadership of the Ottoman empire to eradicate
the Armenian people from Anatolia in what is now eastern Turkey.
Turkey takes a sharply different view, saying hundreds of thousands
of both Turks and Armenians lost their lives as Ottoman forces battled
the Russian Empire for control of eastern Anatolia during World War I.
http://www.globalpost.com/article/6515925/2015/04/14/us-urges-full-admission-facts-armenian-massacre
GlobalPost
April 14 2015
Agence France-Presse
The United States Tuesday called for a "full, frank" acknowledgement
of the facts surrounding the mass killing of Armenians in World War I,
but shied away from calling it "a genocide."
Turkey has drawn a defiant red line in refusing to recognize the
mass killings of Armenians in World War I as "genocide" on the 100th
anniversary year of the tragedy.
And Ankara has hit out at Pope Francis for his use of the word in a
weekend address, with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan saying
"I condemn this mistake."
"The president and other senior administration officials have
repeatedly acknowledged as historical fact, and mourned the fact,
that 1.5 million Armenians were massacred or marched to their deaths
in the final days of the Ottoman empire," State Department acting
spokeswoman Marie Harf said.
They had also stated "that a full, frank and just acknowledgement
of the facts is in all our interests, including Turkey's, Armenia's
and America's."
Harf added that "nations are stronger and they progress by
acknowledging and reckoning with pretty painful elements of their
past."
Such moves were "essential to building a different, more tolerant
future," she said.
However, she refused to term the mass killings a genocide, even
though during his 2008 campaign for the White House, then senator
Barack Obama had pledged to "recognize the Armenian genocide."
Turkey is a key US ally and a fellow member of NATO.
Harf refused to be drawn on what candidate Obama had said, adding
reporters should check with the White House as she spoke for the
State Department.
Armenia and Armenians in the diaspora say 1.5 million of their
forefathers were killed by Ottoman forces in a targeted campaign
ordered by the military leadership of the Ottoman empire to eradicate
the Armenian people from Anatolia in what is now eastern Turkey.
Turkey takes a sharply different view, saying hundreds of thousands
of both Turks and Armenians lost their lives as Ottoman forces battled
the Russian Empire for control of eastern Anatolia during World War I.
http://www.globalpost.com/article/6515925/2015/04/14/us-urges-full-admission-facts-armenian-massacre