The last time we checked in on President Barack Obama's promise about the Armenian genocide, he had traveled to Turkey but failed to use the word "genocide" when asked about the historical events. During the presidential campaign, he had said he would recognize the Armenian genocide, and as a U.S. senator, he criticized the State Department's aversion to the word.

We wondered if Obama would use the word "genocide" when he was back in the United States. Armenian groups in the United States expected him to make a statement on April 24, a day of memorial for the Armenian genocide.

The Armenian genocide was carried out by the Ottoman Empire between 1915 and 1923, and resulted in the deaths of 1.5 million, according to a proposed resolution considered by the U.S. House of Representatives in 2007. (That resolution failed due to Bush administration concerns that it would alienate Turkey, which borders Iraq. The issue has long been controversial in Turkey, where leaders have resisted the label "genocide.")

Obama did issue the statement on the 24th, in which he described the "heavy weight" of history and the "terrible events of 1915," adding "I have consistently stated my own view of what occurred in 1915, and my view of that history has not changed."

But he did not use the word "genocide."

Obama's promise, and his statements while a U.S. senator, indicate that he thought the word itself was important. In 2006, a U.S. ambassador was recalled after he used the word "genocide" in reference to Armenia, which spurred Obama to write a letter to then Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice saying that he thought the U.S. position on the issue was "untenable." (Read the letter via the Armenians for Obama Web site.)

Obama's April 24 statement still doesn't meet the terms of his promise, and the Obameter stays at Promise Broken.