The Turkish Foreign Minister summoned the American Ambassador on Saturday April 24 to protest against Joe Biden's decision to recognize the Armenian Genocide, becoming the first President of the United States to thus qualify the death of a million and a half Armenians massacred by the Ottoman Empire in 1915.

In a statement, the ministry said Turkish Deputy Foreign Minister Sedat Onal told US Ambassador David Satterfield that the declaration had no legal basis and that Ankara "rejected it, found it unacceptable and condemned in the strongest terms ".

He added that this statement had caused a "wound in the relationship which will be difficult to mend."

Following the American announcement, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan immediately reacted by denouncing "the politicization by third parties" of this debate, in a message addressed to the Armenian patriarch in Istanbul.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pachinian for his part hailed a "very strong measure towards justice and historical truth" in a message on Facebook. 

The Armenian genocide is recognized by more than twenty countries and by many historians but it is vigorously contested by Turkey.

"Americans honor all Armenians who perished in the genocide that began 106 years ago today," Joe Biden wrote in a statement.

"We are affirming history. We are not doing this to overwhelm anyone but to make sure that what happened will never be repeated," he added.

The Democratic president, who had promised during his electoral campaign to take the initiative on this issue, informed his Turkish counterpart on Friday of his decision in a telephone conversation.

The two leaders agreed to meet in June on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Brussels.

On the phone with the Turkish head of state, the tenant of the White House expressed his desire to build a "constructive bilateral relationship", according to the brief American report which evokes the need for "effective management of disagreements" .

A signal to the world

It is about "honoring the victims, not overwhelming anyone", insisted an American official, on condition of anonymity.

"We continue to consider Turkey as a crucial ally within NATO," she added.

Without explicitly citing the United States, the Turkish president had sent a thinly veiled warning to Washington on Thursday.

During a meeting with advisers, he warned that he would continue to "defend the truth against those who support the lie of the so-called 'Armenian genocide' (...) for political ends."

Despite years of pressure from the Armenian community in the United States, no American president has so far dared to anger Ankara.

The US Congress recognized the Armenian genocide in December 2019 in a symbolic vote, but Donald Trump, who had fairly good relations with Recep Tayyip Erdogan, refused to use the word, speaking only of " one of the worst mass atrocities of the 20th century ".

Armenians estimate that a million and a half of theirs were systematically killed during World War I by troops from the Ottoman Empire, then allied with Germany and Austria-Hungary.

They commemorate this genocide every year on April 24.

Turkey, resulting from the dismantling of the empire in 1920, recognizes massacres but rejects the term genocide, evoking a civil war in Anatolia, coupled with a famine, in which 300,000 to 500,000 Armenians and as many Turks have found the death.

"Turkey will never recognize the genocide. It will never happen," Aram Bowen, 33, told AFP during a rally of several hundred members of the Armenian community in New York.

Joe Biden's announcement is "the closest thing to global recognition," he continued. 

Also present at the New York rally, Samuel Armen, 32, who was born in Armenia, for his part considered that this gesture was "positive step", but not yet "sufficient". 

"We've been waiting for this for years, we wanted this before Biden. We had a lot of promises with Trump and before, we waited," meanwhile told AFP Taline Nourian, a Yerevan crusader.

"I think Turkey will be afraid now because all countries will start to recognize (the genocide) this year or the next, everyone will talk about it," said the 41-year-old Armenian. 

Less optimistic, Gregory, interviewed by AFP in the streets of Jerusalem thinks that this decision "will not change anything". 

"Armenia is a bit small country, we are not big and powerful like Turkey. We do not have much to offer in terms of geopolitics and trade", continues the man in his sixties in front of the Armenian convent St Jacques. 

Joe Biden's announcement will not have legal effect, but it can only worsen tensions with a Turkey that US Foreign Minister Antony Blinken has called a "so-called strategic partner" which "by many. aspects does not behave like an ally ".

The Democratic president claims to want to put the defense of human rights at the heart of his foreign policy.

His government has confirmed the accusation of "genocide" brought in the last days of Donald Trump's presidency against China for the repression of Uyghur Muslims.

With AFP

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