White House chief of staff Denis McDonough and one of President Barack Obama’s top foreign policy advisors hosted Armenian American leaders at the White House to discuss the centennial.
McDonough and Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes “discussed the significance of this occasion for honoring the 1.5 million lives extinguished during that horrific period,” the National Security Council said in a statement, according to Agence France-Presse.
Sticking to the White House’s avoidance of the term, the statement said the United States would “use the occasion to urge a full, frank and just acknowledgement of the facts.”
Armenian leaders who met with the administration officials said they were told Obama would not use the term.
“His failure to use the term genocide represents a major blow for human rights advocates and sets the clock back on genocide prevention,” said Armenian Assembly of America director Bryan Ardouny.
A senior administration official also confirmed in a statement to daily Hürriyet that "the President will make a statement that marks the historical significance of this centennial, and — as in past years — mourns the senseless loss of 1.5 million precious lives in the atrocities known as the 'Meds Yeghern,'” an Armenian term meaning “great calamity.”
"We know and respect that there are some who are hoping to hear different language this year. We understand their perspective, even as we believe that the approach we have taken in previous years remains the right one—both for acknowledging the past, and for our ability to work with regional partners to save lives in the present," the official said......hurriyetdailynews.com
22/4/15
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President Obama’s Chief of Staff Denis McDonough and Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes confirmed to Armenian American leaders, during a White House meeting this afternoon, that the President has chosen against recognizing the Armenian Genocide in his April 24th statement marking the worldwide centennial of this crime...
ReplyDelete“President Obama’s surrender to Turkey represents a national disgrace. It is, very simply, a betrayal of truth, a betrayal of trust,” said ANCA Chairman Ken Hachikian.
“With the world’s attention drawn this April 24th to worldwide Armenian Genocide Centennial commemorations, President Obama will, tragically, use the moral standing of our nation not to defend the truth, but rather to enforce of a foreign power’s gag-rule. He has effectively outsourced America’s policy on the Armenian Genocide to Recep Erdogan,” said Hachikian.
“As Americans of Armenian heritage – despite the repeated surrender of President Obama to foreign pressure – we will, with our allies, continue to work, with increased vigor and determination, to build American support for a truthful and just resolution of the Armenian Genocide,” he added......http://asbarez.com/134305/obama-not-to-recognize-armenian-genocide/
21/4/15