The controversy over the Armenian genocide
(CNN) -
On Saturday, President Joe Biden became the first US president to officially recognize the massacre of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire as genocide, risking a possible break in relations with Turkey, but signaling a commitment to human rights globally.
In a statement marking the 106th anniversary of the commencement of the massacre, Biden wrote: “Every year on this day, we remember the lives of all those who died in the Ottoman-era Armenian genocide and we pledge to prevent that atrocity To happen again".
«Today, while we mourn what was lost, let us also turn our eyes towards the future, towards the world that we wish to build for our children.
A world untainted by the daily evils of bigotry and intolerance, where human rights are respected, and where all people can continue their lives with dignity and security, "said Biden.
Let us renew our shared determination to prevent future atrocities anywhere in the world.
And let us seek healing and reconciliation for all the people of the world.
The move fulfills Biden's campaign promise to finally use the word genocide to describe the systematic killing and deportation of Armenians in what is now Turkey more than a century ago.
Biden's predecessors in the White House did not use that term, wary of damaging ties with a key regional ally.
Here's how Biden plans to raise taxes on the rich and business
Earlier this week, US officials signaled to some non-government allies that they had pushed for an official statement regarding the genocide.
Addressing the potential offered in an interview with a Turkish broadcaster this week, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said: "If the United States wants to make ties worse, the decision is theirs."
advertising
Cavusoglu said Saturday that Ankara completely rejects Biden's use of the term.
“We are not going to receive lessons from anyone about our history.
Political opportunism is the greatest betrayal of peace and justice.
We completely reject this statement that is only based on populism, "he said in a tweet.
The Turkish government often registers complaints when foreign governments describe the event, which began in 1915, using the word "genocide."
They maintain that it was wartime and there were losses on both sides, putting the number of Armenians killed at 300,000.
Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump did not use the word genocide to avoid angering Ankara.
But Biden has determined that relations with Turkey and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, which have deteriorated in recent years anyway, should not preclude the use of a term that would validate the plight of Armenians more than a century ago and signals a current commitment to human rights.
The declaration will not bring with it other legal effects for Turkey, only diplomatic consequences.
As vice president, Biden frequently dealt with Erdogan and made four trips to Turkey, even after a failed coup attempt.
But he has since offered a less optimistic view of the Turkish leader.
I've spent a lot of time with him.
He is an autocrat, "he told the New York Times editorial board in 2020." He is the president of Turkey and much more.
What I think we should do now is take a very different approach with him, making it clear that we support the leadership of the opposition.
Biden spoke by phone with Erdogan on Friday, his first conversation with the Turkish leader since taking office.
The long period of no communication had been interpreted as a sign that Biden would attach less importance to the United States' relationship with Turkey in the future.
The two men agreed to meet in person on the sidelines of a NATO summit in mid-June in Brussels.
The White House said Biden conveyed "his interest in a constructive bilateral relationship with expanded areas of cooperation and effective handling of disagreements," but the reading did not mention the issue of the Armenian genocide.
The atrocities of Red Sunday
The campaign of atrocities that Biden acknowledges began on the nights of April 23-24, 1915, when authorities in Constantinople, the Ottoman capital, detained some 250 Armenian intellectuals and community leaders.
Many of them ended up deported or killed.
April 24, known as Red Sunday, is commemorated by Armenians around the world as Genocide Remembrance Day.
The number of Armenians killed has been a major point of contention.
Estimates range from 300,000 to 2 million deaths between 1914 and 1923, without all the casualties in the Ottoman Empire.
But most estimates, including one of 800,000 between 1915 and 1918, made by the Ottoman authorities themselves, are between 600,000 and 1.5 million.
Whether through assassinations or forced deportation, the number of Armenians living in Turkey dropped from 2 million in 1914 to less than 400,000 in 1922.
While the number of deaths is disputed, photographs from the time documented some mass killings.
They show Ottoman soldiers posing with severed heads, others with them standing among skulls on the ground.
The victims are reported to have died in mass cremations and from drowning, torture, gas, poison, disease and starvation.
The children were known to have been loaded into boats, taken out to sea and thrown overboard.
Rapes were also frequently reported.
A commitment that neither Obama nor Trump fulfilled
As a candidate, Biden said that if elected "I am committed to supporting a resolution that recognizes the Armenian genocide and will make universal human rights a top priority for my government."
But similar commitments have not been fulfilled before.
When Obama ran for president, he declared in a lengthy statement he shared "with Armenian Americans, many of whom are descendants of genocide survivors, a principled commitment to commemorate and end the genocide."
But like presidents before him, the realities of diplomacy weighed in once he took office.
In the eight years of his presidency, Obama avoided using "genocide" by commemorating the April event.
With Turkey positioned as a key partner in the fight against ISIS terrorists, the issue seemed even less palatable.
Some Obama administration officials, including his deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes and then-US ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, later expressed regret that they had not taken the step.
Power is Biden's candidate to head the US Agency for International Development.
In 2019, the House and Senate passed a resolution recognizing the mass killings of Armenians from 1915 to 1923 as genocide. Before its passage, the Trump administration asked Republican senators to block the request for unanimous consent multiple times with the argument that it could undermine negotiations with Turkey.
Trump tried to cultivate a friendship with Erdogan, even as relations between Washington and Ankara deteriorated over Turkey's purchase of a Russian-made air defense system and alleged human rights abuses by Turkish-backed forces in Syria. .
A group of more than 100 Republican and Democratic lawmakers wrote a letter to Biden this month asking him to formally acknowledge the Armenian genocide.
The group was led by Representative Adam Schiff, a Democrat from California.
A large Armenian American community resides in the Schiff District in and around Los Angeles.
Climate Summit: The Possible Challenges of Biden's Plan
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a statement Saturday that "our hearts are filled with joy that President Biden has taken the historic step of joining Congress with formal recognition on the Day of the Armenian Genocide."
"To commemorate this solemn day of remembrance, we pledge to always stand against hatred and violence wherever we see it and to renew our commitment to build a future of hope, peace and freedom for all the children of the world."
CNN's Daniella Diaz, Donald Judd, and Jasmine Wright contributed to this report.
Joe biden