President Obama reminded about his pledge to recognize Armenian Genocide

PanARMENIAN.Net - POLITIFACT.COM has added Barack Obama Campaign Promise No. 511 to its list of Obama campaign promises.



It reads: "Recognize the Armenian genocide."



"Two years ago, I criticized the Secretary of State for the firing of U.S. Ambassador to Armenia, John Evans, after he properly used the term 'genocide' to describe Turkey's slaughter of thousands of Armenians starting in 1915. As President I will recognize the Armenian Genocide," Obama said during his election campaign.



In a note POLITIFACT.COM explains that: "When we started looking for President Obama's campaign promises, we knew we might not find all of them, and we hoped our readers would alert us to promises we had missed. Today we are adding our first promise based on reader feedback: Obama's pledge to recognize the Armenian Genocide.



The issue has been a hot-button issue on the world stage because the government of Turkey has objected to the use of the term 'genocide' as inaccurate and inflammatory, California Courier publisher Harout Sassounian writes.



A 2007 resolution in the U.S. House of Representatives said the Armenian Genocide was carried out by the Ottoman Empire between 1915 and 1923, and resulted in the deaths of 1.5 million.



The resolution failed in the face of Bush administration concerns that it would alienate Turkey, which borders Iraq.