Joe Biden set to recognise massacre of Armenians as genocide, risks Turkey’s wrath

US president’s genocide designation could come on Saturday, the 106th anniversary of mass killings that began in 1915

Biden administration’s move likely to infuriate Turkey and further strain already frayed ties between two Nato allies

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The Tsitsernakaberd Armenian Genocide Memorial in Yerevan, Armenia’s capital. File photo: AFP

Published: 12:11pm, 22 Apr 2021Updated: 11:55pm, 22 Apr 2021

US President Joe Biden was preparing to formally acknowledge that the systematic killing and deportation of hundreds of thousands of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire in modern-day Turkey more than a century ago was genocide, according to US officials.

The anticipated move - something Biden had pledged to do as a candidate - could further complicate an already tense relationship with Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Administration officials had not informed Turkey as of Wednesday, and Biden could still change his mind, according to one official.

Lawmakers and Armenian-American activists were lobbying Biden to make the announcement on or before Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day, which will be marked on Saturday.

One possibility is that Biden would include the acknowledgement of genocide in the annual remembrance day proclamation typically issued by presidents. Biden’s predecessors have avoided using “genocide” in the proclamation commemorating the dark moment in history.

A bipartisan group of more than 100 House members on Wednesday signed a letter to Biden calling on him to become the first US president to formally recognise the World War I-era atrocities as genocide. Democratic congressman Adam Schiff of California spearheaded the letter.

Armenian elite of the city of Harput, Turkey, being led away under armed guard in May 1915.

“The shameful silence of the United States Government on the historic fact of the Armenian Genocide has gone on for too long, and it must end,” the lawmakers wrote. “We urge you to follow through on your commitments, and speak the truth.”