A group of U.S. Senators called U.S. President Barack Obama to be at "the right side of the history" and use the term "genocide" in his speech on April 24.
California Senator Barbara Boxer (D) who was circulating a letter in the Senate that calls Obama to define the incidents in Ottoman Empire between 1915 and 1921 as "genocide", sent the letter early today to the White House after she collected the signatures of 14 senators from 10 states. According to the website of one of the major lobbying organizations of Armenian diaspora, Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA), the letter is mailed to the White House early in the morning.
Expressing his content over Senators' pressure over Obama, ANCA's Executive Director Aram Hamparian thanked to the Senators and stated that Obama has a clear choice to make on April 24th. "To emerge as the torchbearer of "truth" regarding the "Armenian Genocide" or to remain the Turkish government’s accomplice in the denial of this crime against humanity," said he.
The letter which is signed by 14 senators and mailed to Obama reads that United States has not recognized 1915 incidents as genocide "despite an irrefutable body of evidence" and calls Obama to finally correct this "injustice" and acknowledge "one of the greatest atrocities of the 20th century" as "genocide".
The full list of Senators co-signing the letter is as follows: Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), John Ensign (D-OH), Russ Feingold (D-WI), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), Carl Levin (D-MI), Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Jack Reed (D-RI), Joe Lieberman (ID-CT), Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), Charles Schumer (D-NY), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI).
President Barack Obama had promised Armenian voters that he will recognize so called Armenian genocide during his Presidency. During his speech on April 24 last year, attempting to satisfy both Turkish and Armenian side of the dispute over history, he avoided to use the term "genocide" and used the term "Meds Yerghern" which means "great calamity" in Armenian language.
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