“Armenia exerts pressure”: Erdogan dismisses Biden’s massacre charge

Monday, April 26, 2021

“Armenia pressures up”
Erdogan dismissed Biden’s genocide charge

When US President Biden classified the massacre of Armenians more than a hundred years ago as genocide, the Turkish president remained silent. Now Erdogan talks of baseless claims. However, there has been no scandal between Turkey and Germany or France.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has condemned the recognition of the genocide of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire as genocide by US President Joe Biden. Biden made “baseless, inappropriate and inappropriate” statements about “traumatic events” during World War I more than a century ago, Erdogan said in Ankara. They had no legal and historical basis and would have hurt the Turkish people.

Erdogan alleged that the US pressured Armenian and anti-Turkish interest groups. But this does not change the “devastating” effect of statements on Turkish-American relations. Erdogan said he hoped the US would quickly remove the wrong move.

In a notice distributed by the White House on Saturday’s commemoration day of the massacre, Biden declared, “The American people honor all Armenians who died in the genocide that began 106 years ago.” Turkey’s Foreign Ministry and several high-ranking politicians then sharply condemned Biden’s recognition of the massacre. Erdogan himself did not initially comment.

Germany and France also speak of genocide

During World War I, the Armenians were systematically tortured and, among other things, sent to the Syrian desert on a march of death. Historians talk in the thousands, with 1.5 million victims. As the successor to the Ottoman Empire, Turkey accepts the deaths of 300,000 to 500,000 Armenians during World War I and regrets the massacre. However, it strictly rejects the classification as genocide.

The Bundestag classified the massacre of Armenians as genocide in June 2016. This led to a serious diplomatic crisis with Turkey. In December 2019, the US Congress also recognized the massacre as a massacre in a symbolic vote.

French President Emmanuel Macron visited the memorial on Saturday on the occasion of “Remembrance Day for the Armenian Genocide” in the center of the French capital. Macron announced two years ago that April 24 would be a National Day of Remembrance. Now this was the first time he attended any official function. The relationship between Macron and Erdogan is thought to be tense.