Kim Kardashian is playing stateswoman by challenging President Barack Obama to admit that the deaths of 1.5 million Armenians at the hands of Ottoman Turks in 1915 were genocide and to just come out and call it that.
Kardashian called out Obama in an op-ed column in
Time magazine Friday after America's arguably most popular Armenia descendent visited her homeland and spoke out about the issue.
The term genocide has been hotly disputed by Turkey, a key U.S. ally in the region,
noted the BBC News, which has called it a civil disputed started by World War I.
"I would like President Obama to use the word 'genocide,'" the "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" star said in her Time column. "It's very disappointing he hasn't used it as president. We thought it was going to happen this year. I feel like we're close — but we're definitely moving in the right direction.
"It's time for Turkey to recognize it," said Kardashian. "It's not the fault of the people who live there now; it was 100 years ago on Friday. I think if they recognize it and acknowledge it, everyone can move on. I believe in moving on and looking toward a brighter future, but you can't move on unless you acknowledge the past. To not do so is an act of disrespect."
Earlier this month, Pope Francis called the Ottoman's mass killing or Armenians "genocide," saying it was "the first genocide of the 20th century," reported the BBC News. The pope's words led to Turkey recalling its envoy from the Vatican in anger.
Former "The Daily Show" correspondent John Oliver joined Kardashian in criticizing Obama for not calling the word genocide in reference to the Armenia conflict during his latest episode of "Last Week Tonight" on Sunday. Oliver's efforts on the subject were praised on social media.
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