(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) President Barack Obama released a statement on Thursday to mark the centennial of the Meds Yeghern, the "first mass atrocity of the 20th century." "Beginning in 1915, the Armenian people of the Ottoman Empire were deported, massacred and marched to their deaths," Obama said. "Their culture and heritage in their ancient homeland were erased. Amid horrific violence that saw suffering on all sides, one and a half million Armenians perished." "This centennial is a solemn moment," the President said. "It calls on us to reflect on the importance of historical remembrance, and the difficult but necessary work of reckoning with the past. ... A full, frank and just acknowledgement of the facts is in all our interests." Peoples and nations grow stronger, and build a foundation for a more just and tolerant future, by acknowledging and reckoning with painful elements of the past, he said.
"We welcome the expression of views by Pope Francis, Turkish and Armenian historians, and the many others who have sought to shed light on this dark chapter of history," Obama said.
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