U.S. Ambassador to Armenia pays tribute to memory of Armenian Genocide victims

U.S. Ambassador to Armenia Richard Mills visited the Armenian Genocide Memorial in Yerevan today, on April 24. 

Talking to journalists, the diplomat said it is a great honor for him to represent the U.S. Government and the people of America and to pay 
tribute on their behalf to the victims of what Barack Obama qualified as the worst atrocities of the 20th century.  "One hundred years ago, 
Armenians fell victims to pogroms and forced deportation. We honor the memory of the victims and make our contribution to prevent such 
tragedies," the diplomat said.

As for President Obama's statement to mark Armenian Remembrance Day on April 24, wherein he again avoided using the term "genocide," 
Ambassador Mills said the president's address was powerful. 

"He qualified those events as the first mass atrocity of the 20th century," the diplomat said adding that the president is committed to 
what all of us strive for - fair and full recognition of those events.  In response to journalists' remarks that Obama perhaps 
avoids "offending" Turkey, the ambassador said that President Obama had that his goal is to achieve the truth and reconciliation of the 
two countries. The president is committed to his stand, Ambassador Mills said adding that his visit to the Genocide Memorial confirms 
that commitment. 

To recall, U.S. President Barack Obama made yesterday annual statement to the Armenian nation related to the anniversary of the 
Armenian Genocide in Ottoman Empire. As it was anticipated Obama has once again broken his unambiguous 2008 campaign promise to declare 
that the mass killings of Armenians at the hands of Ottoman Turks in 1915 amounted to "genocide". However, even such obscure statement of 
the U.S. President sparked discontent in Ankara. Foreign Ministry of Turkey came out with a statement wherein it called U.S.  President 
Obama's statement of 22 April 2016 "yet another example of the assessments on the sufferings endured under the circumstances of the 
First World War on the basis of a one-sided narrative." In this context, the ministry calls upon the U.S.  Administration "to adopt 
an objective, prudent and constructive approach, which takes the sufferings of all sides into consideration, by evaluating the 
historical realities on the basis of a just memory."