Turkey, a NATO ally of the United States, objects to the use of ‘genocide’ when it comes to topics related to Armenia, and Obama’s omission of the word in a speech related to the 1915 massacre has been drawing criticism from all quarters.
Given that the President has made a pledge to call a spade a spade in his 2008 campaign, chairman of the Armenian National Committee of America, said, “President Obama’s surrender to Turkey represents a national disgrace — it is, very simply, a betrayal of truth, a betrayal of trust.”
He goes on to say that Obama will not stand for truth but instead submit to Turkey’s gag-rule at the 100th anniversary of the Armenian genocide that will be remembered in a ceremony on April 24, 2015.
Armenian leaders also visited the White House recently where the discussion revolved around the 1.5 million lives that were lost during this horrific period as well as the principled advocacy of the Armenian American community.
Both the chief of staff and deputy national security adviser for strategic communications pledged that the United States will acknowledge the facts frankly and fully at the aforementioned occasion.
That said, the White House has announced that Jack Lew, the Treasury Secretary, will represent the United States at the ceremony to be held in Armenia commemorating the genocide in 1915.
As a senator and presidential candidate, Obama always described these killings as ‘genocide’ but has avoided using that word as soon as he took office, thanks to Turkey taking offense to the ‘genocide’ label.