White House says 1915 Armenian deaths a ‘historical fact’

 White House says 1915 Armenian deaths a ‘historical fact’ –

The White House has described the World War I-era killings of 1.5 million Armenians as a “historical fact,” urging Turkey to face painful elements of its past to build a more tolerant future. 

“President [Barack Obama] and other senior administration officials have repeatedly acknowledged as historical fact that 1.5 millions Armenians were massacred or marched to their deaths in the final days of the Ottoman Empire,” While House spokesman Josh Earnest said during a press briefing on Thursday.

He said Washington earlier stated that they mourn those deaths and “full, frank and just acknowledgements of the facts is in the interest of everybody, including Turkey, Armenia and the US.”

Every year on April 24 U.S. presidents issue a statement to mark the anniversary of the Ottoman-era massacres of Armenia. Despite his 2008 electoral promise to characterize the 1915 events as genocide, current U.S. President Barack Obama in his previous six addresses he only used the Armenian expression Medz Yeghern, or “great calamity”.