A Non-Profit Organization Registered in the US

with 38,000 Hellenes as members and 36 Hellenic

associations in the US and abroad

By Philip Elliott ASSOCIATED PRESS

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (AP) -- Candidate Obama repeatedly promised he'd call the almost century-old massacre of Armenians in Turkey as genocide. President Obama twice now has refused to do so.

Obama on Saturday declined to call the deaths of 1.5 million Armenians during World War I a genocide as he had promised as a presidential hopeful, instead painting the massacre as "one of the worst atrocities" of the 20th century and "a devastating chapter" in history.

Obama's statement, issued as he and first lady Michelle Obama spent a weekend getaway here in western North Carolina, earned him criticism from all corners. The Turkish foreign minister said it was "unacceptable," and activists took issue with the president's tone in the statement that marked the 95th anniversary of the start of the slaughter of Armenians by Ottoman Turks.

It is "a devastating chapter in the history of the Armenian people, and we must keep its memory alive in honor of those who were murdered and so that we do not repeat the grave mistakes of the past," Obama said in his statement.

Yet for a second year as president, Obama intentionally eschewed calling it a genocide, as he promised during his campaign. Now well into his second year in office, he has not in public used the word many historians employ for the first mass killing of the 20th century.

Marking the grim anniversary of the start of the killings, the president instead said: "On this solemn day of remembrance, we pause to recall that 95 years ago one of the worst atrocities of the 20th century began."

The statement was less than the full and frank acknowledgment he promised Jan. 19, 2008, when he vowed that as president, "I will recognize the Armenian Genocide," and repeatedly used the word.

"I also share with Armenian Americans -- so many of whom are descended from genocide survivors -- a principled commitment to commemorating and ending genocide. That starts with acknowledging the tragic instances of genocide in world history. As a U.S. senator, I have stood with the Armenian American community in calling for Turkey's acknowledgment of the Armenian Genocide."

Activists and officials from across the spectrum were quick to express disappointment.

"Today we join with Armenians in the United States and around the world in voicing our sharp disappointment with the president's failure to properly condemn and commemorate the Armenian Genocide," Armenian National Committee of America chairman Ken Hachikian said. "Sadly, for the U.S. and worldwide efforts to end the cycle of genocide, he made the wrong choice, allowing Turkey to tighten its gag-rule on American genocide policy."