George Clooney: There was a genocide of Armenians in 1915, there’s no argument about it

“There was a genocide of Armenians in 1915. There’s no argument about it,” George Clooney said in an interview with The Frame.

“Now, history has changed and the Turks don’t want to talk about it anymore. And because we have military bases in [Turkey], suddenly those same politicians who before could say, “Yes, there was a genocide,” can’t talk about it now. You can’t call it that,” the actor said.

Clooney added: I’ve had conversations with senators where I’ll say, “Can we talk about the Armenian Genocide?” and they’ll say, “Absolutely not, because Turkey is our partner in the war on terror.”

He added, however, he can give plenty of examples of politicians who would talk about the genocide of Armenians. “They would talk about it as a reality, which of course it is.”

On March 10 George Clooney joined humanitarian leaders to launch a new global prize, the Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity, as part of the 100 LIVES initiative.

George Clooney’s wife – Amal – recently represented Armenia at the European Court of Human Rights in an Armenian Genocide denial case.