United States: we hold Ottomans responsible for crimes against Armenians

"In new correspondence with the U.S. Congress on World War I-era killings of Armenians in the Ottoman empire, U.S. President George W. Bush's administration has continued to avoid using the word "genocide," but also says it holds Ottoman officials responsible for crimes against Armenians.

"The administration recognizes that mass killings, ethnic cleansing, and forced deportations of over one and a half million Armenians were conducted by the Ottoman Empire. We indeed hold Ottoman officials responsible for those crimes," Matthew Reynolds, Acting Assistant Secretary of State for legislative affairs said in a letter to Democratic Sen. Joseph Biden, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

The letter reached Biden hours before the committee voted Tuesday to support Marie Yovanovitch, Bush's nominee for ambassador to Armenia."