Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), the lead sponsor of the Armenian Genocide Truth and Justice Resolution in Congress, released a statement Tuesday after the White House confirmed to Armenian-American community leaders that the President would not use the word genocide when he issues a statement Friday on the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, Asbarez reported.

The statement reads:

“I’m deeply disappointed that the President, once again, will fail to properly describe the extermination of 1.5 million Armenians from 1915 to 1923 for what it was – genocide. How long must the victim’s and their families wait before our nation has the courage to confront Turkey with the truth about the murderous past of the Ottoman Empire? If not this President, who spoke so eloquently and passionately about recognition in the past, whom? If not after one hundred years, when?

“The United States has long prided itself for being a beacon of human rights, for speaking out against atrocity, for confronting painful chapters of its own past and that of others. This cannot be squared with a policy of complicity in genocide denial by the President or Congress. Last week, the Pope spoke powerfully of the need to bind the wound that continues to bleed in the absence of recognition – I only wish Washington had been listening.”