The U.S. Department of State condemned the mass killing of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire in early 20th century, yet failing once again to recognize them as genocide.

“The President and other senior Administration officials have repeatedly acknowledged as historical fact and mourned the fact that 1.5 million Armenians were massacred or marched to their deaths in the final days of the Ottoman Empire, and stated that a full, frank, and just acknowledgement of the facts is in all our interests, including Turkey’s, Armenia’s and America’s,” the acting spokesperson, Marie Harf, said at the daily press briefing on Tuesday, April 14, when asked to comment on Pope Francis’s statement characterizing the massacres as the first genocide of the 20th century.

She further refused to comment on Ankara’s recalling the ambassador to the Vatican following the Pope’s remarks or Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign promise to recognize the Armenian Genocide.