President expected to recognize Armenian genocide
President Joe Biden plans to recognize the mass killing of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire during World War I as a genocide, according to two people familiar with the decision, breaking a decades-long tradition of U.S. presidents refraining from using the term for fear of jeopardizing U.S. Turkish relations.
The anticipated move would fulfill a campaign promise Biden made in October and reflect his willingness to anger Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan amid a growing list of disagreements over Turkey’s arms deals with Russia, democratic backsliding, and interventions in Syria and Libya.
It also would be the second time the Biden administration has declared a genocide at the risk of infuriating a major power, following its determination that China is carrying out a genocide against Uyghur Muslims in the Xinjiang region.
Historians estimate that 1.5 million Armenians were killed in the brutal campaign and commonly classify the killings as a genocide. Biden’s acknowledgment would represent a major victory for the Armenian American diaspora community, which has lobbied for recognition for years.
“I am proud the U.S. government is poised to finally be able to say it without any euphemism: genocide is genocide. Plain and simple,” said Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, whose wife is of Armenian ancestry.
If Biden moves forward, the reaction from Turkey is likely to be swift.
On Tuesday, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said the designation would damage the bilateral relationship and represent an affront to “international law.”
“Statements that have no legal binding will have no benefit, but they will harm ties,” Cavusoglu said. “If the United States wants to worsen ties, the decision is theirs.”
Turkey has acknowledged that many Armenians were killed in fighting with Ottoman forces in 1915 but disputes the larger casualty counts and denies that it constituted genocide.
The designation would be in line with an effort Secretary of State Antony Blinken has called “putting human rights at the center of U.S. foreign policy,” a standard he has been challenged on regarding the U.S. approach to Saudi Arabia, Egypt and other autocratic regimes.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki declined to comment on the pending decision but said the administration would have “more to say” on the topic Saturday.
That day, April 24, is the date Ottomans apprehended Armenian dignitaries in Istanbul in 1915 in what many scholars view as the opening phase of the first genocide of the 20th century. The campaign of forced marches and mass killings was born out of Ottoman concerns that the Christian Armenian population would align with Russia.