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YEREVAN, Armenia (AP) — An American doctor who has spent years working in a fighting-ravaged region of Sudan has been awarded the $1.1-million Aurora Prize for exceptional humanitarianism.
Dr. Tom Catena was presented the prize Sunday in Armenia's capital, Yerevan. The prize was established in remembrance of the Armenian survivors of a mass killing by Ottoman Turks.
An estimated 1.5 million Armenians were killed in 1915-23 in what many historians regard as the first genocide of the 20th century, a claim that Turkey rejects.
Catena, based in Sudan's Nuba Mountains, "is a role model to us all," said American actor George Clooney, co-chairman of the prize selection committee and a prominent advocate of recognizing the killings as genocide.
The prize includes $100,000 for Catena and $1 million for him to donate to organizations of his choice.
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