Senator Barbara Boxer called on the U.S. President Barack Obama to recognize the Armenian Genocide.

In her address, Ms. Boxer said, “Mr. President, I rise today to recognize the 96th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide—a tragedy that has left a dark stain on the collective conscience of mankind. What has made this tragedy even more painful—particularly for the Armenian people—is the failure of successive U.S. administrations to acknowledge the deliberate massacre of the Armenians by its rightful name—genocide. So today, I also rise to reiterate my call to President Barack Obama to finally right this terrible wrong.”

In 2008, then-Senator Obama said: . . . the Armenian Genocide is not an allegation, a personal opinion, or a point of view, but rather a widely documented fact supported by an overwhelming body of historical evidence.

“Every day that goes by without full acknowledgement of these undeniable facts by the United States prolongs the pain felt by descendants of the victims, as well as the entire Armenian community,” she stressed, adding, “Yet, successive U.S. administrations continue only to refer to the genocide by such terms as “annihilation,” “massacre,” and “murder.” This is not only an affront to the memory of the victims and to their descendants, but it does a disservice to the United States as it seeks to stand up to those who are perpetrating violence today.”