U.S. President Joe Biden officially recognized the atrocities committed by the Ottoman Empire against Armenians more than a century ago as “genocide” on the 106th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide on Saturday, the first U.S. president to make such a proclamation; on the same day, French President Emmanuel Macron visited the Armenian Genocide Memorial in Paris to attend the commemoration. Macron stressed that it is our duty to prevent history from being “forgotten,” “denied” and “altered.
AFP reported that Macron and many French political leaders attended the commemoration of the victims of the Armenian Genocide on Saturday. Macron went to the Armenian Genocide Memorial in central Paris at noon Saturday for the commemoration. Macron said in an earlier letter to Armenian President Sarkisian that “it is our duty to stop history from being forgotten, denied and falsified.
And the White House said President Joe Biden officially recognized the Armenian genocide committed by the Ottoman Empire in the early 20th century as an act of “genocide. Biden said in a statement that 1.5 million Armenians were deported, killed or persecuted in the genocidal campaign, beginning with the arrest of intellectual representatives in Constantinople and public leaders by Ottoman authorities on April 24, 1915. In a statement, Biden said, “Americans pay tribute to all Armenians who lost their lives in the genocide that took place 106 years ago.”
Biden said, “We recognize history, and in doing so, we are not trying to silence anyone, but to make sure that history does not repeat itself.”
Biden campaigned on a promise to use the word “genocide” to describe the massacre and deportation of millions of Armenians more than 100 years ago. Biden also spoke by phone with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday and informed him of his decision.
Biden and Erdogan also agreed to meet in June on the sidelines of a NATO summit in Brussels.
More than two dozen countries, including France, Greece, the Netherlands, Russia and Sweden, have officially recognized the genocide. The U.S. Federal Senate had also passed a resolution in 2019 recognizing the Armenian massacre as a genocide.
The Turkish government, however, has refused to acknowledge the genocide, emphasizing that Armenia exaggerated the ethnic death toll and that ethnic Turks were also killed and injured when the Ottoman Empire collapsed. The use of the word “genocide” to describe the historical event is sensitive to the Turkish leadership, which considers it a “tragedy” that resulted in heavy casualties on both sides.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said in a letter to Armenian Patriarch Mashalian of Istanbul on Saturday that the event “was politicized by a third party and became an instrument of intervention,” saying “we cannot allow the centuries-long culture of Turks and Armenians living together to be forgotten. “The U.S. president should reflect on his country’s past and present,” Erdogan’s spokesman said. Turkish Foreign Minister Çavuşoğlu said that “Turkey does not accept anyone’s accusations about its history.”
Armenian Prime Minister Pashinian sent a letter to Biden saying that the recognition of the genocide “is based on a sense of justice for the history of Armenia, especially the events that took place in the region last year.
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