Adam Schiff urges Obama to recognize Armenian Genocide

Adam Schiff called on President Barack Obama to recognize the Armenian Genocide on April 24th, a day commemorated by Armenians and many state and local governments as Genocide Remembrance Day, reports Armenpress referring to Pasadena Star-News.

Obama issues a statement each year marking the anniversary of the start of the first genocide of the 20th century but has failed to refer to the event of killing as a genocide since his election, Schiff's office said.

"I urge you to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide in your statement this year, to call genocide, genocide, and to stand with the ever-dwindling number of survivors, as well as the descendants of those who were lost, and who must otherwise continue to suffer the indignity, injury and pain of denial," Schiff, D-Burbank, wrote in his letter to Obama. He pointed out that Obama has used the word genocide in the past and the Armenian genocide has also been recognized by many governments the world over.

An estimated 1.5 million Armenians were killed by the Ottoman Turks from 1915-1923 in what was then the Ottoman Empire.

Obama, in a letter to the Armenian Reporter in 2008 while he was a senator, pledged that "as President I will recognize the Armenian Genocide. "