WASHINGTON, April 24 – RIA Novosti. The President of the United States Donald trump the anniversary of the Armenian genocide in the Ottoman Empire stated that he welcomes reconciliation efforts between Armenians and Turks.
“We welcome the efforts of Armenians and Turks in recognition of its painful history and reconciliation with it,” – said in a written statement, trump.
According to him, in this day to “remember those who suffered and died, and to reaffirm our commitment to protecting vulnerable religious and ethnic minorities around the world.”
trump again called the events of 1915 as the Armenian term meds Yeghern, which means “great crime”, but traditionally refrained from using the word “genocide”. The U.S. Congress has repeatedly adopted resolutions with the proposal to recognize the extermination of the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire as genocide, but the US administration to take this step does not go, for fear of worsening relations with Turkey.
trump said that on April 24 in the US, remember not only about one and a half million dead, but about the close historical ties between Americans and Armenians.
“We were lucky that so many Armenians brought their rich culture to our shores and made such a great contribution to the development of our country. Among them was award-winning soldiers who are recognized workers of the entertainment industry and architects, successful business,” said trump.
In the late XIX – early XX centuries, the Ottoman Empire carried out regular prosecutions and persecutions of Armenians. In particular, in 1915, according to some historians, killed more than 1.5 million Armenians. The fact of the Armenian genocide in the Ottoman Empire was recognized by 23 States, as well as by the European Parliament and the world Council of churches. The Russian state Duma in 1995 adopted a resolution “About the condemnation of the Armenian genocide 1915-1922 years in its historic homeland — in Western Armenia”.
Turkey has traditionally rejected the accusations of genocide and extremely sensitive to criticism from the West on this issue. In Ankara insist on the rejection of the term “genocide” in relation to the events of 1915, stating that the victims were the Armenians and the Turks. Turkey also called for the establishment of an international Commission of historians to study the country’s archival documents to develop an objective approach to the events of the First world war.
