U.S. President Joe Biden on Saturday mentioned the 1915 massacres of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire constituted genocide, a historic declaration that infuriated Turkey and is set to additional strain currently frayed ties in between the two NATO allies.
The largely symbolic move, breaking away from decades of very carefully calibrated language from the White House, will most likely to be celebrated by the Armenian diaspora in the United States, but comes at a time when Ankara and Washington have deep policy disagreements more than a host of concerns.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu mentioned Turkey “entirely rejects” the U.S. choice which he mentioned was based “solely on populism”.
“We have nothing to learn from anybody on our own past. Political opportunism is the greatest betrayal to peace and justice,” Cavusoglu mentioned on Twitter.
In his statement, Biden mentioned the American people today honor “all those Armenians who perished in the genocide that began 106 years ago today.”
“Over the decades Armenian immigrants have enriched the United States in countless ways, but they have never forgotten the tragic history … We honor their story. We see that pain. We affirm the history. We do this not to cast blame but to ensure that what happened is never repeated,” Biden mentioned.
In comments that sought to soften the blow, a senior administration official told reporters that Washington encouraged Armenia and Turkey to pursue reconciliation and continues to view Ankara as a essential NATO ally.
For decades, measures recognizing the Armenian genocide stalled in the U.S. Congress and U.S. presidents have refrained from calling it that, stymied by issues about relations with Turkey and intense lobbying by Ankara.
Turkey accepts that lots of Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire have been killed in clashes with Ottoman forces in the course of World War One, but contests the figures and denies the killings have been systematically orchestrated and constitute a genocide.
Ties in between Ankara and Washington have been strained more than concerns ranging from Turkey’s acquire of Russian S-400 defense systems – more than which it was the target of U.S. sanctions – to policy variations in Syria, human rights and legal matters.
Biden’s declaration follows a non-binding resolution by the U.S. Senate adopted unanimously in 2019 recognizing the killings as genocide.