The United States recognizes the Ottoman genocide of the Armenians
US President Joe Biden recognized, on Saturday, the genocide of Armenians, to be the first president of the United States to describe the killing of “1.5 million Armenians at the hands of the Ottoman Empire in 1915 as genocide”.
Biden wrote, in a statement, that Americans “honor all Armenians who died in the genocide that took place 106 years ago,” adding: “We confirm history” We are not doing this to blame anyone, but to ensure that what happened does not happen again”.
The Democrat president, who during his election campaign promised to take action on the issue, informed his Turkish counterpart of his decision during a phone conversation.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan quickly responded to the confession, accusing “third parties” of interfering in his country’s affairs, while Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşolu said that Turkey “does not receive lessons from anyone about its history”.
Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said that the United States should look back on its past, condemning “strongly” the US President’s statements that “only repeat the accusations of those whose only agenda is hostility towards Turkey”.
On the other hand, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan welcomed the historic decision of the US president, saying that it is “a very strong step in favor of justice and historical truth”, expressing his desire for “a constructive bilateral relationship with the expansion of areas of cooperation and effective management of disputes”.
The Armenian Foreign Ministry also welcomed Biden’s decision of the Armenian massacres, saying that it was “a continuation of the American traditions of standing by the side of truth and justice”.
The US Congress recognized the Armenian genocide in December 2019, but former President Donald Trump refused to use this phrase and only spoke about “one of the worst mass atrocities of the twentieth century”.
Turkey, which arose at the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire in 1920, acknowledged the occurrence of massacres, but rejected the phrase “genocide,” noting that the Anatolia region was witnessing a civil war that was accompanied by a famine that killed between 300 thousand to half a million Armenians and a large number of Turks.
Biden’s announcement will not have any legal effect, but it can only exacerbate tensions with Turkey, which US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken described as a “supposed strategic partner” that “does not act as an ally in many aspects”.
