George Clooney attended a ceremony in Armenia that remembered the over one million ethnic Armenians that were killed by the Ottoman Turks 101 years ago.
The actor has been a strong advocate in favor of countries that recognize the massacre as a genocide, which the U.S. does not, the SF Gate reported.
“Modern Turkey, the successor to the Ottoman Empire, vehemently rejects that the deaths constitute genocide, saying the toll has been inflated and that those killed were victims of civil war and unrest,” the paper said. “Clooney has been a prominent voice in favor of countries recognizing the killings as genocide, which the United States has not done.”
The actor joined thousands of others as they marched through the Armenian city of Yerevan, to a hilltop memorial that’s dedicated to those who were killed in the 1915 massacre, where they laid thousands of flowers in memory of the victims.
“President Obama declined Friday to call the 1915 massacre genocide, breaking a key campaign promise as his presidency nears an end,” SF Gate added. “Obama, marking Armenian Remembrance Day, called the massacre the first mass atrocity of the 20th century and a tragedy that must not be repeated.”
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