Biden calls mass killing of Armenians a 'genocide' in break with previous presidents [View all]

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Source: Washington Post

President Biden recognized the massacre of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire in 1915 as a genocide Saturday, a designation that U.S. presidents long avoided for fear of damaging the U.S.-Turkey relationship. The decision follows a lengthy lobbying campaign by members of Congress and Armenian American groups eager to see the White House use a term embraced by many scholars of early 20th century history.

Historians estimate that 1.5 million Armenians were killed in a campaign of forced marches and mass killings born out of Ottoman concerns that the Christian Armenian population would align with Russia during World War I, abetting an arch-nemesis of the Ottoman Turks. Turkey has acknowledged that many Armenians were killed in fighting with Ottoman forces in 1915 but disputes the larger casualty counts, denies that the events constituted genocide and considers such claims a slander against its founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

The move comes amid worsening relations between the United States and Turkish President Recep Tayyip over Turkey’s purchases of Russian military equipment, human rights abuses and interventions in Syria and Libya. Biden called Erdogan on Friday, but a White House readout of the conversation did not mention the 1915 massacres. Biden conveyed his interest in a “constructive bilateral relationship with expanded areas of cooperation and effective management of disagreements,” the statement said.

The Turkish readout of the call said Erdogan raised his objections about U.S. support for Kurdish forces in Syria, whom Turkey considers terrorists, and the case of Fethullah Gulen, a religious leader who lives in exile in the United States. It also did not mention the massacre of Armenians. Biden’s recognition comes on April 24, the date Ottomans seized Armenian dignitaries in Istanbul in 1915 in what many scholars view as the opening phase of the first genocide of the 20th century. Armenian American groups hailed the long sought move.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/armenia-genocide-biden-turkey/2021/04/24/b0f2394a-a46a-11eb-8a6d-f1b55f463112_story.html