"As a senator, I strongly support passage of the Armenian Genocide Resolution, and as president, I will recognize the Armenian Genocide." -- Statement to Armenians for Obama, Jan. 19, 2008
After telling Armenian-Americans during the campaign that he would push for applying the word "genocide" to the murder of 1.5 million Armenians in Turkey, Obama studiously avoided the word while visiting Istanbul this month. And when he released a statement on Armenian Remembrance Day, April 24, it called the killings "one of the great atrocities of the 20th century" -- but not a "genocide." Armenian-Americans have lobbied for years for official recognition of their past; Turkey has remained resistant despite recent signs of a rapprochement between the two governments.
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