Officials say Biden is prepared to acknowledge Armenian massacres as genocide

The language would come as part of an annual statement that coincides with a day of remembrance on Saturday. Officials added that no final decisions or briefings took place and that Mr. Biden could have chosen to issue the symbolic statement without describing the killings as a genocide, just like other presidents.

Turkey denies the genocide and said Armenians had risen up against the government. Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told Haberturk television on Tuesday that a statement by Mr. Praying will only hurt tires. A spokesman for the Turkish embassy in Washington did not immediately comment.

Most historians recognize the treatment of the Ottoman Empire by Armenians and members of other ethnic and religious minorities from 1915 to 1923 as genocide.

Mr. Biden’s presidential campaign said a month before the November election that he would “recognize the Armenian genocide and make universal human rights a top priority for his government so that such a tragedy can never happen again.”

White House spokesman Jen Psaki said on Wednesday the government would have more to say on the issue on Saturday, but said it would not provide details at this time.

In recent years, ties between the US and Turkey, a fellow member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, have deteriorated over Ankara’s acquisition of the Russian S-400 air defense system, as well as over human rights and civil rights issues under President Recep Tayyip. Erdogan and on Turkey’s role in various regional conflicts.

Under pressure from Congress, the Trump administration has imposed sanctions on Turkish government entities over the acquisition of the S-400, which Pentagon officials say could be used to gather information about the F-35 fighter jets Turkey would buy, and removed Ankara. of participation in the US-led F-35 fighter jet program.

Congress in 2019 adopts predominantly non-binding resolutions in the House and Senate calling the 1915 actions a genocide. A statement from the president has long been a priority of the substantial Armenian-American community, who oppose Turkey’s efforts to lobby with its own.

As mnr. Biden formally used the term “genocide”, analysts said Ankara could respond by paying attention to the treatment of Native Americans by European settlers; setting up a diplomatic protest; or, though more unlikely, the U.S. bans using the country’s Incirlik air base.

Turkey could also create informal barriers to US imports, said Sinan Ulgen, a former Turkish diplomat and chairman of Edam, a think tank in Istanbul. The reaction is likely to take into account that many Turkish citizens share the government’s view of history, Ulgen said.

“The Turkish population regards this history as one where tragedies have struck not only Armenians but also Turks who have had ethnic cleansing in the Balkans,” Ulgen said.

The language debate stems from World War I’s attempt to deport approximately 2 million Armenians from Turkey during the empire’s Young Turk era. An estimated 1.5 million Armenians have died, while half a million have left their homes. Present-day Armenia, a former Soviet state, occupies only part of the traditional Armenian homeland in the Caucasus Mountains bordering Turkey.

Previously, President Ronald Reagan, who began his political career among a large Armenian-American population in California, referred to the massacres as a genocide in comments about the Holocaust and other atrocities. However, other presidents stopped using the terminology during their tenure.

Former President Donald Trump called the 1915 action “one of the worst mass atrocities of the 20th century”, in a statement on Armenian Genocide Day. A White House spokesman, Kayleigh McEnany, once called an “Armenian genocide memorial” during a news conference.

Armenian Ambassador to the United States Varuzhan Nersesyan told The Wall Street Journal that he hoped the Biden White House would follow through with the genocide.

The executive director of the Armenian Assembly of America, Bryan Ardouny, said that an “American confirmation of the Armenian genocide not only increases America’s credibility regarding human rights issues, but also helps prevent future genocides.”

Aram Suren Hamparian, executive director of the Armenian National Committee of America, has appealed to Mr. Biden done to increase US support for Armenia, which he described as ” an enclosed, blocked, genocide-surviving state committed by Ankara and Baku to complete this crime. ”

Azerbaijani Ambassador to the United States Elin Suleymanov said a proclamation of genocide from Washington “does not help normalization between Armenia and Turkey”, including the opening of the closed border between Turkey and Armenia. “It’s not going to be useful in the region,” he said.

Write to William Mauldin by [email protected]