European foreign policy of the Barack Obama administration signal to the Muslim world and firmly anchor the country in Europe. The trip marked Obama's first visit to a Muslim majority country. Obama has asserted that a close relationship with a stable, democratic, Western-oriented Republic of Turkey is an important U.S. national interest. His administration declared that the U.S. will support the promotion of democracy, human rights, and freedom of expression in Turkey and support its efforts to join the European Union, which the president confirmed on his April visit. While Obama has gone on the record in the past as referring to the massacre of Armenians under the
First inauguration of Barack Obama States and a symbol of change from his Republican predecessor, George W. Bush. Obama also represented a generational change as the first man elected President who was born in the 1960s. He inherited what Peter Orszag termed an "economic mess" that became known as the late-2000s financial crisis. According to a CNN poll, he embodied youthful energy and transition at a time of economic despair, and inspired more confidence than his immediate predecessors. The inauguration was planned primarily by two committees: the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies and the 2009 Presidential Inaugural Committee. Although the election was scheduled for