Another April 24 has passed by. On this day Armenians worldwide honor the memory of Armenian Genocide victims. As expected, this year, too, U.S. President Barack Obama proved unwilling and perhaps unable to pronounce the word “genocide” in his annual April 24 address, confining himself to using the Armenian term “Meds Yeghern.”

Like previous years, Obama’s statement sparked criticism of Armenians, particularly that of the Armenian American community, that once again reminded the U.S. President of his pledge to recognize the Armenian Genocide given during his presidential election campaign.

Commenting on American President’s address on Armenian Genocide Commemoration Day, head of Armenian Cause Office Kiro Manoyan noted that the Armenian community might not back Obama’s candidacy during the oncoming presidential elections.

Nevertheless, the U.S. President’s attempts not to offend Turkey failed.

Turkey’s “upset” Foreign Minister slammed Obama’s statement claiming it reflected the Armenian stance on Genocide issue.

Ahmet Davutoğlu described Obama's remarks as "biased" and a distortion of "historical facts."

Thus, Obama’s wish to kill two birds with one stone once again failed.

This time, expectation for the U.S. President’s statement was seasoned with the French sauce. On April 23, a message was issued on forthcoming participation of both presidential candidates of France - Francois Hollande and current President Nicolas Sarkozy in Armenian Genocide commemorative ceremony.

In contrast to his rival Hollande, Nicolas Sarkozy was to partake in such an event for the first time in his term of office, thus converting the surroundings of Memorial to Komitas and victims of Armenian Genocide in Paris into election ring on the threshold of the second round of presidential elections due May 6. Though the candidates didn’t meet one another at the venue, they seized the moment to reiterate their pledges to adopt a bill criminalizing the Armenian Genocide denial. Moreover, Sarkozy promised that the new text of the bill will be submitted already in June.

This was followed by the Turkish Foreign Minister’s criticizing both candidates for “speculation of history to pursue political goals”.

Time will show whether the French Armenian community and the Armenians worldwide will succeed in testing how Sarkozy will keep his promise this time. According to certain sources, Armenians in France incline to vote for the current French President.

Recently it has become a kind, or, rather, a sad tradition for several candidates to win the heart of the Armenian community through various pledges, that get erased from their memories as soon as they come to power.