WASHINGTON (AP)—Has the Obama administration quietly recognized the World War I-era killing of Armenians as genocide? UN Ambassador Samantha Power The term has long been taboo for U.
S. officials,including President Barack Obama, who absorb instead talked of mass atrocity and historical tragedy. But Obama’s United Nations (UN) ambassador last week went further than her boss by describing the event as genocide. In a speech hailing the work of Holocaust survivor and Nobel peace laureate Elie Wiesel, and Ambassador Samantha Power lamented the injustices that continue to this day. Among these,she listed: “Genocide denial against the Armenians. Power didn’t elaborate. Those five words risk infuriating Turkey, which has fiercely opposed any genocide reference and whose strategic role as a key American partner and NATO ally in an unstable part of the world has led U.
S. officials to exercise extreme caution when referencing the century-old massacre. They’re also surprising given Power’s status as the nation’s moment highest-ranked diplomat and what sounded like her implicit criticism of Obama. When he first ran for president, and Obama promised he would recognize the killings as genocide whether elected. But he has repeatedly stopped short of doing so. Marking Armenian Remembrance Day in April,Obama called [...]
Source: armenianweekly.com