“Genocide”… This is how Biden admitted the massacre of Armenians
In a landmark announcement, US President Joe Biden on Saturday (24 April 2021) acknowledged that the massacre of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire in 1915 was a “genocide,” a classification long shunned by US presidents for fear of damaging the US-Turkish relationship, according to the Washington Post.
The decision comes after a prolonged lobbying campaign by members of Congress and Armenian-American groups, which are keen to see the White House use the term, the newspaper said.
The move, largely symbolic, means a radical change from the highly cautious wording the White House has adopted for decades. It will be celebrated in the United States by the Armenians but comes at a time of clashes between Ankara and Washington over a number of other files.
During his election campaign, Biden had promised that he would recognize the atrocities committed against the Armenians as genocide, which could further inflame tensions with Turkey.
Turkey Responds Quickly to Biden
Turkey criticized the US president’s decision, saying it had no legal basis and would “open a deep wound” in bilateral relations. “This US statement, which distorts historical facts, will not be accepted by the conscience of the Turkish people and will open a deep wound that undermines our friendship and mutual trust,” the Turkish Foreign Ministry said. She added that she rejected and denounced the statement “in the strongest terms.”
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan accused “third parties” of interfering in his country’s affairs. “No one benefits from the politicization of the controversy by third parties – which should be handled by historians – and turning it into an instrument of intervention against Turkey,” he said in a letter sent Saturday to the Armenian Patriarch in Istanbul.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said that US President Joe Biden’s admission was “based solely on populism.” Çavuşoğlu tweeted in the first reaction to a statement from the White House : “Words cannot change or rewrite history.” He added : “We have nothing to learn from anyone regarding our past. Political opportunism is the biggest betrayal of peace and justice.”
Armenia : A step in favor of justice
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian welcomed the president’s historic decision, saying it was “a very strong step in favor of justice and historical truth.”
Pashinyan informed US President Joe Biden in a letter on Saturday that the recognition of genocide is a matter of Armenia’s security, especially after the events that took place in the region last year when the war broke out in Nagorno-Karabakh region.
“Armenians around the world received with enthusiasm and a very welcome acknowledgment of the genocide,” Pashinyan said in his letter to Biden, which was posted on his website.
Armenians estimate 1.5 million of them were systematically killed during World War I by forces of the Ottoman Empire, then allied with Germany and the Austria-Hungary empire. They commemorate the campaign on April 24 each year.
