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Joe Biden recognises 1915 killings of Armenians as 'genocide'

Joe Biden recognises 1915 killings of Armenians as 'genocide'

US President Joe Biden

US President Joe Biden has recognised the 1915 killing of Armenians as ‘genocide’ in a statement made on the anniversary of the massacre.

"We remember the lives of all those who died in the Ottoman-era Armenian genocide and recommit ourselves to preventing such an atrocity from ever again occurring," Biden said. "And we remember so that we remain ever-vigilant against the corrosive influence of hate in all its forms."

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The statement comes a day after the Biden administration informed the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that he would be taking this step of labelling the killings by Ottoman forces as genocide.

By doing this, Biden has become the first US President to use the term 'genocide' in a customary statement and has urged Erdogan to come to terms with the usage of the term.

His statement is being dealt as a victory for Armenia as a statement had been pending from the US for years, although France, Germany, Canada, and Russia had already recognised the incident as genocide.

However, Biden has also cleared the air by stressing that the statement was "not to cast blame but to ensure that what happened is never repeated."

He also assured that the decision was made "in a very principled way focused on the merits of human rights, and not for any reason beyond that, including placing blame."

As many as 1.5 million Armenians are estimated to have been killed from 1915 to 1917 during the waning days of the Ottoman Empire, which suspected the Christian minority of conspiring with adversary Russia in World War I.

(With inputs from agencies)