President Biden declares mass killings of Armenians Genocide in 1915
Washington, Ankara … News Time
US President Joe Biden has called the 1915 massacre of Armenians by Ottoman forces genocide. He is the first US president to make such a decision, while Turkey has rejected his statement and strongly condemned it. He used the term “genocide” in a statement issued on Saturday to mark the anniversary of the massacre of Armenians. He had spoken to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan by telephone a day earlier and informed him of his decision. “We are remembering all those who were killed during the Ottoman genocide,” Biden said in a statement. We reaffirm our commitment that such a massacre will never happen again. The US president’s statement is being hailed as a major victory for Armenians, especially Armenians living abroad. He has long called for genocide by his ancestors during World War I to be declared genocide by the Ottoman army. Every year on April 24, Armenians celebrate and demonstrate around the world to commemorate the massacre of about 1.5 million people of their race a century ago.
It should be noted that Uruguay first used the term genocide in 1965 for this massacre. Since then, several countries, including France, Germany, Canada and Russia, have recognized the genocide of Armenians, but former US presidents have refused to do so. However, Biden made it clear in his statement that he was not blaming anyone but wanted to make sure that what happened did not happen again. A senior US official says President Biden made the decision solely on the merits of human rights. He has not made this decision for any reason other than blaming someone. Explaining President Biden’s thinking, the official said that he was also against organized racism in the United States and kept raising his voice on the issue.
Turkey, meanwhile, has reacted sharply to President Biden’s decision, saying the United States is trying to recreate history. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said in a tweet shortly after President Biden’s announcement that words could not change history or rewrite it. We will not take any new lessons from anyone about our history. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said in a message to the Armenian bishop in Istanbul that a third party is trying to politicize the century-old debate. He wrote in his message that debates do not benefit anyone and these debates should be done only by historians but a third party is giving them political color and using it as a ploy to interfere in our country. But at the same time, he said in a conciliatory manner that Turkey is ready to establish good neighborly and mutually respectful relations with Armenia. The Foreign Ministry has issued a stern statement under Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu. “We reject and strongly condemn the statement of the President of the United States regarding the events of 1915,” he said. He issued the statement on April 24 under pressure from radical Armenian circles and anti-Turkish groups. He added that it was clear that the statement had no philosophical or legal basis and was not supported by any historical evidence. The term genocide is defined in very clear terms in international law, and the term can never be applied to events that took place in 1915.
Campaign for the term genocide:
President Joe Biden has been under pressure in recent days to deliver on his election promises. He promised during his election campaign last year that he would recognize the massacre of Armenians by the Ottoman army in World War I as genocide. But Turkey had earlier warned President Biden that any such decision would have a negative impact on bilateral relations. The two countries are also members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and Turkey has a key role to play in the alliance’s forces. Adam Schiff, a Democratic congressman, called on President Biden to deliver on his election promise. “We will see this week if you join the ranks of the leaders of France, Germany, the European Union, the Vatican and 49 other states that have already recognized the genocide in Armenia,” he wrote in an open letter to the president.
Earlier, 35 members of the US Senate called on President Joseph Biden to recognize the massacre of Armenians by the forces of the former Ottoman Empire in Armenia as genocide. He will be the first US president to make such a decision. A group of Republican and Democratic senators also wrote a letter to President Biden. In it, he was told that in the past, the administration of both parties had been silent on the truth of the massacre in Armenia. We urge you to put an end to this complication and officially recognize the genocide of the Armenians. The administration of his predecessor, President Donald Trump, has stated that it does not consider the massacre of Armenians by Turkish troops during World War I in 1915 to be genocide.
US Vice President Kamala Harris, along with a fellow senator, introduced a resolution in the Senate two years ago, calling for recognition of genocide in Armenia. Both houses of the US Congress passed the resolution in 2019 calling the massacre of Armenians in the war with the Ottoman Turks genocide, while the Trump administration has expressed dissatisfaction with the resolution and former President Trump has condemned it did not approve. Former US presidents have argued that recognizing Armenian genocide could damage relations with NATO ally Turkey, but Biden said during his election campaign last year that he recognized genocide in Armenia will support the bill.
It should be noted that another former US President Barack Obama also promised during his election campaign that if elected, he would recognize the genocide of Armenians as genocide, but after his victory, he He did not use the term, but instead stated that he had the same views and perspectives as before coming to the White House. Armenia’s position is that the Ottoman army massacred 1.5 million people during World War I. Its purpose was to purify the Christian ethnic group. Turkey acknowledges that many Armenians were killed in the war with the Ottoman Empire, but denies allegations that they were killed in a systematic manner that would be considered genocide in Western terms. Coins Western nations have long called the killings of Armenians genocide.
