Biden formally recognizes atrocities against Armenians as a genocide
Fox News
President Biden on Saturday became the first U.S. president to formally recognize the systematic deportation and massacre of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire as a genocide -- something the successive White Houses have avoided out of concern for damaging relations with Turkey.
An estimated 2 million Armenians were deported and 1.5 million killed between 1915 and 1925 in what has become known as Metz Yeghern. "Beginning on April 24, 1915, with the arrest of Armenian intellectuals and community leaders in Constantinople by Ottoman authorities, one and a half million Armenians were deported, massacred, or marched to their deaths in a campaign of extermination," Biden said. "We honor the victims of the Meds Yeghern so that the horrors of what happened are never lost to history. And we remember so that we remain ever-vigilant against the corrosive influence of hate in all its forms." Biden had promised to recognize the horrific events as a deliberate effort to wipe out Armenians. He had argued that failing to recognize it as such would pave the way for future atrocities -- something he hinted at in his statement. Prior White Houses had avoided the term so as not to hurt relations with a key NATO ally.More Related News