Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan criticized US President Joe Biden’s decision to recognize the Armenian Genocide in 1915 as a “genocide”, describing it as “baseless” and “incorrect”.
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At a press conference after a three-hour cabinet meeting in Ankara, Erdogan called on the US president to reverse the decision immediately.
He said that Biden’s decision could lead to the collapse of bilateral relations and reduce them, and he hoped that the two presidents would start a new term in their first meeting in June.
Joe Biden’s statement on Saturday angered Turkish officials, who described it as a “deep wound” in a relationship that had previously been strained over a host of issues.
US President Joe Biden described the incident as a “genocide” on Saturday, April 24th, the 106th anniversary of the 1915 massacre of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire.
The Turkish president also said that the inclusion of the phrase “genocide” in the statement was due to pressure from Armenian radical and anti-Turkish groups.
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Erdogan also expressed at a meeting on Monday his frustration with the statements of the US President, stressing that Joe Biden’s statements have no legal or historical basis.
“The Armenian rebels killed many unarmed Turkish civilians because the adult men were all at war,” he said, referring to historical events.
That is why Erdogan assured that historians and the court should comment on this, because he believes the term “genocide” is very sensitive.
“If you call it genocide, go ahead and look in the mirror,” he said, noting that “millions of people have suffered at the hands of European and American powers in recent centuries.”
Over the past two years, Turkish-American relations have witnessed many fluctuations in issues such as Washington’s support for the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which Ankara describes as terrorist groups, as well as Turkey’s purchases of weapons from Russia, especially the S-400 air defense system.
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Turkish citizens gather in front of the US Consulate in Istanbul
According to some reports, a group of Turkish citizens gathered in front of the US Consulate in Istanbul at dawn on Monday to protest Biden’s decision.
They raised banners and chanted slogans: “Genocide is a lie, and this is an American plot.”
The demonstrators also called for an end to the US military use of the Incirlik Air Base in southern Turkey, and chanted “US forces leave Turkey.”
