World: Define “genocide”: The U.S. reignites WWI-era tensions with Turkey
- The U.S. calls the World War I-era killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks “genocide.” Turkey pulled its ambassador from the U.S. today after the a house panel changed its stance on one of Armenia’s darkest hours. The House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee made the decision in committee, voting 23-22 to tell Obama to refer to it as such. It’s unclear if it’ll reach the floor. Many historians refer to the killing of as many as 1.5 million Armenians as genocide, but Turkey views this as an affront to their honor. Not that this isn’t an awful issue, but it seems like bad diplomacy to change stance seemingly at random. (In fact, the Obama administration was wary on lighting this particular fire.) But on the other hand, we bet Armenians don’t feel that way. So we can see both sides of this. source