Biden officially recognizes the Armenian massacre as genocide
Joe Biden on Saturday became the first U.S. president to officially recognize the Massacre of Armenians during the Ottoman Empire as genocide.
CNN reported that the recognition refers to a U.S. commitment to global human rights, but at the same time threatens a possible split with Turkey.
In a statement marking the 106th anniversary of the start of the massacre, Biden wrote, “On this day every year, we remember all those who lost their lives in the Armenian genocide of the Ottoman era and reaffirm our commitment to preventing such atrocities from happening again.”
Biden’s admission, in line with his campaign pledges to use the word genocide to describe the systematic killing and deportation of Armenians in what is now Turkey more than a century ago.
Biden’s white house predecessors had refrained from using the word, fearing that relations with Turkey would be damaged.
The Campaign of Ottoman Massacres of Armenians began on the nights of April 23 and 24, 1915, when authorities in Constantinople, the then Ottoman capital, arrested about 250 armenian intellectuals and community leaders.
Many ended up deported or assassinated.
On April 24, Armenians are greeted every year known as the “Red Sunday” around the world.
The Armenian death toll was a major point of contention. It is estimated that between 300,000 and 2 million people were killed between 1914 and 1923. However, most estimates range from 600,000 to 1.5 million.
Despite disagreement over the death toll, images of that era document some mass killings. Some show Ottoman soldiers holding severed heads, others standing in the middle of skulls in the dirt. The victims reportedly died of mass burns, drowning, torture, gas, poison, disease and famine. The children were reportedly loaded into boats, taken to sea and tossed into the sea. They were also reported raped.
In the same vein, The Prime Minister of Armenia praised U.S. President Joe Biden’s recognition of the killing of 1.5 million Armenians in Ottoman Turkey as genocide, describing it as a “strong step.”
The Move “reaffirms the sovereignty of human rights and values in international relations,” Bashinian was quoted by the Associated Press as saying. It is therefore an inspiring example for all those who want to build a just and tolerant international community together”.
“I deeply appreciate your position, which is a strong step toward restoring truth and historical justice, and invaluable support for the descendants of armenian genocide victims,” he said in a letter to Biden.
Bashinian also stressed that recognition was “a security issue, particularly in light of the events in our region last year,” referring to the war between Armenia and Azerbaijan in which Armenia ceded vast areas of Armenian-occupied territory in Azerbaijan, which resulted in the deaths of more than 6,000 people and the displacement of a large number of Armenian civilians.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, lamented that “the reality of these heinous crimes has often been denied, and their brutality diminished.”
“History teaches us that if we ignore its darkest chapters, we will have to witness the horrors of the past repeated,” she said.
Representative Adam Schiff, also a California Democrat, praised Biden’s loyalty to his pledge.
“For American Armenians and anyone who believes in human rights and truth, today is a historic milestone : President Biden defied Turkish threats and acknowledged the slaughter of 1.5 million Armenians — the first genocide of the 20th century,” Schiff said in his statement.
California is home to large Armenian-American communities.
Salby Gazarian, director of the Institute of Armenian Studies at the University of Southern California, said recognition of genocide will resonate beyond Armenia and underscore Biden’s seriousness about respect for human rights as a key principle of his foreign policy.
“America’s commitment to basic human values has been in question both inside and outside the United States for decades,” she said. It is important that the people of the world continue to cling to hope and belief that ambitious American values still exist, and that we can actually do many things at the same time. “We can actually continue trade and other relations with countries while also calling for the fact that the government cannot escape the killing of its citizens.”
