President Barack Obama on Saturday marked the World War One-era massacre of Armenians by Turkish forces, calling it one of the worst atrocities of the 20th century, but avoiding any mention of "genocide."

As April 24 approaches, Armenians and Turks will once again be watching U.S. President Barack Obama to see how he describes this day of remembrance for the 1915 mass killings and deportations of Ottoman Armenians.

Turkish foreign policy has long ignored the Armenian genocide dispute, adopting an indifferent approach to claims raised by the Armenian diaspora and ambitious efforts to ensure the recognition of mass killings in the early 20th century in Ottoman territories as a crime of 'genocide.'

Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan have met in Washington in an effort to kick-start the stalled process of normalizing relations between their countries.

While the Armenian government has repeatedly stated that it is not planning to apply for NATO membership, it is closely cooperating with NATO, and the level of this cooperation is comparable to those of Armenia's neighbors.

Collaboration between Armenian and Turkish civil society organizations has helped to ease the recent tension in Turkish-Armenian relations as various civil society organizations from Turkey continue meeting with their counterparts in Yerevan.