Biden calls mass killing of Armenians a ‘genocide’

President Biden recognized the massacre of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire 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.

                       

“The American people honor all those Armenians who perished in the genocide that began 106 years ago today,” Biden said in a statement. “Let us renew our shared resolve to prevent future atrocities from occurring anywhere in the world. And let us pursue healing and reconciliation for all the people of the world.”

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 beginning 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.

Turkey’s foreign minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, immediately criticized Biden’s remarks.

“We entirely reject this statement,” he wrote on Twitter. “We have nothing to learn from anybody on our own past. Political opportunism is the greatest betrayal to peace and justice.”

The move comes amid worsening relations between the United States and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan 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.