By Charlie Mahtesian
US President Joe Biden on Saturday issued the document Armenian Americans have pursued for decades: a declaration that the Ottoman Empire’s slaughter of an estimated 1.5 million Armenian civilians was genocide.
It’s a deceptively simple action, carrying no force of law. Yet it’s a bold move for Biden, who has gone beyond what any American president has ever been willing to do. Until now, presidents have declined to formally apply the term “genocide” for fear of sparking a backlash from Turkey, which vigorously denies it. According to the Turkish account, World War I-era violence between Muslim Ottomans and Christian Armenians led to large casualties on both sides. According to most historians, however, the evidence is clear the Turks engaged in a years-long ethnic cleansing campaign that included forced death marches and mass starvation.
Biden makes history by declaring killings of Armenians a genocide
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After 43 years of feeling a “certain way” defined by the fight to have the massacre of her Armenian ancestors recognized as genocide Lori Mesrobian isn’t sure what emotions will spring up if that actually happens.
For Mesrobian and other Armenians, what they consider a simple act of acknowledging history has faced decades of geopolitical barriers. U.S. politicians have made promises, only to pull back over the country’s strategic relationship with Turkey. There was great disappointment when President Obama, after pledging to recognize the genocide, ended up not taking that step.
Now, it appears the United States is on the verge of acting.
Armenians spent their lives demanding U.S. recognition of genocide. Victory is here Lila Seidman © (Los Angeles Times) Thousands join a march on a day of remembrance for the death of more than 1 million Armenians at the hands of Ottoman Turks more than a century ago. (Los Angeles Times)
After 43 years of feeling a “certain way” defined by the fight to have the massacre of her Armenian ancestors recognized as genocide Lori Mesrobian isn’t sure what emotions will spring up if that actually happens.
For Mesrobian and other Armenians, what they consider a simple act of acknowledging history has faced decades of geopolitical barriers. U.S. politicians have made promises, only to pull back over the country s strategic relationship with Turkey. There was great disappointment when President Obama, after pledging to recognize the genocide, ended up not taking that step.
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Biden had pledged to recognize the Armenians treatment as a genocide.
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Biden is expected to become 1st US president to officially recognize Armenian genocide
Plus, the president hosted more than 40 global leaders virtually to the White House for a two-day summit on climate change.Karen Minasyan/AFP via Getty Images
President Joe Biden formally recognized the Ottoman Empire s killing and deportation of Armenians over a century ago as a genocide, breaking from his predecessors and risking inflaming tensions with Turkey.
Biden had pledged as a presidential candidate to recognize the Armenians treatment, which took place in modern-day Turkey, as genocide. Armenian-Americans have long called on U.S. presidents to do so, but Turkey, a key NATO ally, has warned the U.S. against it, long maintaining that the violence was part of bloody clashes during World War I.
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