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WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama on Saturday marked the anniversary of the massacre of Armenians in Turkey nearly a century ago by calling it a “horrific” slaughter, but he once again stopped short of branding it genocide.
In a written statement, Obama said the 1915 killings of about 1.5 million Armenians represent “one of the worst atrocities of the 20th century.”
As a candidate for president, Obama repeatedly vowed to recognize the genocide once in office, vowing “a principled commitment to commemorating and ending genocide.” But since 2009, Obama has declined to use the word in the face of furious resistance from Turkey, a key NATO ally.
