in 1915 , 1.5 million armenians were killed by ottoman turks in what historians have described as the first genocide of the 20th century .
obama refused to call the mass killings a ` genocide ' in official statement despite promising as a presidential candidate that he would .
turkish officials furiously deny there was a genocide , and obama has shied away from offending the close u.s. ally .
kim kardashian - who is armenian on her father 's side - and the pope have both called the killings a genocide .
kasdashian last week traveled to the country for the first time with her husband kanye west , sister khole and cousins kara and kourtni .
the white house will be sending treasury secretary jacob lew to armenia this week to mark the 100th anniversary of the killings .