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ANKARA: As April 24 looms, Sarksyan asks Obama to use the g-word

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  • ANKARA: As April 24 looms, Sarksyan asks Obama to use the g-word

    Today's Zaman, Turkey
    April 2 2011


    As April 24 looms, Sarksyan asks Obama to use the g-word

    02 April 2011, Saturday / TODAY'S ZAMAN, ANKARA

    Armenian President Serzh Sarksyan has disclosed that he has asked US
    President Barack Obama to use the term genocide to describe the
    killings of Anatolian Armenians during World War I ahead of `Armenian
    Genocide Remembrance Day.'

    `Naturally, our desire has always been and is that in his annual
    address the president of the United States makes a very explicit
    evaluation and utters the word genocide,' Sarksyan was quoted as
    saying in online English-language Armenian news reports on Friday, as
    he expressed hope that Obama would use the politically sensitive term
    in his next public statement on the anniversary of the killings to be
    marked on April 24.

    His remarks came on Thursday said at a joint news conference with
    visiting Swiss President Micheline Calmy-Rey. `I have spoken out on
    more than one occasion and can now say that in the past I have
    personally asked the US president to utter that word,' he said.

    Speaking to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), however,
    Sarksyan indicated on Friday that he thinks Obama may once more stop
    short of calling the killings genocide in his upcoming address.

    `The best moment is when your desire matches reality. Let's hope that
    this will be the case this time. But if this doesn't happen, we should
    not have reason to be upset and must instead fight for that,' he said
    in response to a question from RFE/RL.

    Armenians say up to 1.5 million Armenians were either sent to their
    deaths or slaughtered in eastern Anatolia at the hands of Ottoman
    Turks in 1915, an accusation that Turkey vehemently rejects. Turkey
    says both sides suffered tragic losses in a state of war during World
    War I.

    In Paris, a bill proposing a punishment for anyone who denies the
    Armenian genocide returned to the agenda again.

    The French Parliament recognized the so-called Armenian genocide in
    2001, which resulted in short-lived tension between France and Turkey.
    In 2006 the French National Assembly adopted a bill proposing a
    punishment for anyone who denies the Armenian genocide. However, it
    has to be passed by the Senate in order to be enforced.

    As a result of efforts by a group of Socialists, the bill will be
    debated at the Senate's plenary session on May 4, the Anatolia news
    agency reported on Thursday.




    From: A. Papazian
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