Washington is raising an expected “announcement” on Saturday
April 24 marks the start of the Armenian Genocide at the hands of the Ottoman Empire in 1915. Joe Biden will be the first US president to recognize this genocide.
The US State Department spoke on Friday, April 23. “ad“Expected Saturday day”The Armenian Genocide», Apparently confirms that US President Joe Biden is about to admit it. Before his election, he promised to take the lead in this matter.
«Regarding the Armenian Genocide, you can expect tomorrow’s announcement“The deputy spokesperson for US diplomacy, Galina Porter, told reporters.” Until now, the United States government has refrained from speaking about genocide. Turkey is contesting the Armenian Genocide, which more than twenty countries and many historians have recognized.
Despite years of pressure from the Armenian community in the United States, no American president has yet dared to anger Ankara, Washington’s historic ally and NATO member. The US Congress recognized the Armenian Genocide in December 2019 in a symbolic vote, but Donald Trump refused to use the word. Armenians estimate that one and a half million of them were systematically killed during World War I by forces from the Ottoman Empire, then allied with Germany, Austria and Hungary. They commemorate this genocide every year on April 24th.
On Friday, Joe Biden spoke with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, about the issue. The American President expressed his desire to build a “Constructive bilateral relationship”In a brief report, the White House referred to the need for a telephone exchange “Effective conflict management”. Turkey, resulting from the dismantling of the empire in 1920, recognized the massacres but rejected the term genocide, which sparked a civil war in Anatolia, along with the famine, in which between 300,000 to 500,000 Armenians and many Turks were killed.
The deterioration of relations with Ankara
If Joe Biden announces recognition of Armenian genocide, However, this announcement will have no legal effect, but it will only exacerbate tensions with Turkey that the head of US diplomacy Anthony Blinken described as “The so-called strategic partner” Who is the In many ways, don’t act like an ally..
Without citing the United States, the Turkish president sent a veiled warning to Washington on Thursday. And he indicated in a meeting with advisors that he would continue to do so “To defend the truth against those who support the lie of the so-called” Armenian Genocide “(…) for political ends.. On Friday, after the exchange of the phone, the Turkish presidency was content with a highlight “The strategic nature of bilateral relations” And the importance of a ‘Closer cooperation’. Joe Biden and Recep Tayyip Erdogan agreed to meet in June on the sidelines of a NATO summit in Brussels.
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