President Joe Biden became the first US president to officially recognize the massacre of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire as a genocide.
Biden released a statement commemorating the 106th anniversary of the massacre, threatening a schism with longtime regional ally and NATO member Turkey.
The step fulfills Biden’s campaign promise to use the term “genocide” to describe the systemic killing and expulsion of Armenians in what is now Turkey more than a century ago.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoan expressed his condolences on Saturday to “Ottoman Armenians who lost their lives in the difficult circumstances of World War I.”
Following the announcement, Turkey summoned US Ambassador David M. Satterfield, according to Turkish state media Anadolu.
Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump both avoided using the word genocide to avoid angering Ankara.
Khloé Kardashian praised President Joe Biden on social media on Saturday for becoming the first US president to formally recognise the Ottoman Empire’s slaughter of Armenians as genocide.
