Former Obama UN Ambassador Samantha Power on Monday apologized for not using the term “genocide” to describe the Ottoman Turks’ massacre of Armenians, The Hill reports.
“I am very sorry that, during our time in office, we in the Obama administration did not recognize the #Armenian Genocide,” Power said in a series of tweets.
I am very sorry that, during our time in office, we in the Obama administration did not recognize the #Armenian Genocide
— Samantha Power (@SamanthaJPower) April 24, 2017
Power, who served as Obama’s UN ambassador from 2013 to 2017, blamed “ongoing Turkish denial” for leaving an “open wound.”
“Almost every Armenian-American family was touched in some way by the genocide,” Power said.
Former President Barack Obama had promised during his campaign to use the label to describe the mass killings by Ottoman forces of the Armenian in the 1910s, but reversed course in office.
To date, Power is the only Obama official to express regret over the decision not to use the term genocide.
