turkish criminal regime A bee in the bonnet question on Armenian genocide at Obama and Abdullah Gül press conference The first question launched by US Chicago Tribune journalist - sent Obama into an ice skating ballad - gliding by any mention of the very word genocide and at first it seemed he would avoid the word Armenian.

turkish criminal regime 
A bee in the bonnet question on Armenian genocide at Obama and Abdullah Gül press conference
The first question launched by US Chicago Tribune journalist - sent Obama into an ice skating ballad - gliding by any mention of the very word genocide and at first it seemed he would avoid the word Armenian.
Barack Obama found his diplomatic skills tested to the limit today when he was forced to address the Turkish slaughter of Armenians during the dying days of the Ottoman Empire without using the word "genocide".


Historians estimate that up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed in a systematic campaign of extermination during the First World War, and during his campaign for the presidency Mr Obama declared that "America deserves a leader who speaks truthfully about the Armenian genocide".
Today, during a joint press conference in Ankara with his Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gul, President Obama said that his views had not changed but he took extreme care not to use the word "genocide" so as not to inflame his hosts, who have always denied the claims.
Instead, he expressed the hope that talks between Turkey and Armenia could "bear fruit very soon" and he wanted to support that process.
“Well, my views are on the record and I have not changed views,” Mr Obama said in response to a question about the genocide and his stance on it.
"I want to focus not on my views right now, but on the views of the Turkish and Armenian people. If they can move forward and deal with a difficult and tragic history, then I think the entire world should encourage that.”
Responding to the same question, Mr Gul appeared to back Mr Obama by declaring that it was "not a legal or political issue, but an historical issue" which was being addressed by a joint commission of historians.
Even though he took a swipe at members of the Armenian diaspora who use the issue to "cling to their identity", he also appeared to suggest that a breakthrough was near.
"Our view is that we should let the historians, the experts, sit down," Mr Gul said.
"We are ready to face the reality, the facts. I cannot be the politicians who decide what happened when, who lost the most lives and who is right and who is wrong."