WASHINGTON – President Biden is ready to formally declare that the massacres of Armenians in the early 20th century constituted genocide, according to US officials, a rare step that would further strengthen ties with Turkey.
Mr Biden is expected to describe as genocide the deportation, starvation and massacres of Armenians at the hands of Ottoman Turks from 1915 onwards, officials said.
The language would come to be part of an annual statement that coincided with a day of remembrance on Saturday. Officials added that there were no final decisions or briefings and that Mr Biden could choose to issue the symbolic statement without describing the killings as genocide, as have other presidents.
Turkey denies the killings constituted genocide, saying Armenians rose up against the government. Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told Haberturk television on Tuesday that a statement from Mr Biden would only damage ties. The spokesman for the Turkish embassy in Washington made no immediate comment.
Most historians recognize the treatment of the Ottoman Empire to Armenians and members of other ethnic and religious minorities from 1915 to 1923 as genocide.