WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — The United States is formally recognizing that the systematic killing and deportation of hundreds of thousands of Armenians by Ottoman Empire forces in the early 20th century was “genocide” as President Joe Biden used that precise word that the White House has avoided for decades for fear of alienating ally Turkey. With the acknowledgement, Biden followed through on a campaign promise he made a year ago Saturday — the annual commemoration of Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day — to recognize that the events that began in 1915 were a deliberate effort to wipe out Armenians. While previous presidents have offered somber reflections of the dark moment in history via remembrance day proclamations, they have studiously avoided using the term genocide out of concern that it would complicate relations with Turkey — a NATO ally and important power in the Middle East.
  • gvngndz [none/use name,comrade/them]
    ·
    4 years ago

    I'm Turkish and have meet many normally intelligent people with good politics deny the existence of the Armenian Genocide, so at this point the Turkish Government simply can't accept the fact that a genocide happened (not that they intend to) without getting a huge backlash. Anyways, this is good, but makes me fear what the purpose of this is, I doubt Biden did this because he cares a lot about the issue.