Biden Officially Recognizes Ottoman Massacre of Armenians , as Genocide.
President Joe Biden is the first U.S. president to designate the sustained Ottoman massacre of Armenians during World War I in what is now Turkey as genocide.
In doing so, Biden risks diplomatic fallout with Turkish President Recep Erdogan, to which Biden has referred as an "autocrat.".
As we mourn what was lost, let us also turn our eyes to the future — toward the world that we wish to build for our children.
, President Joe Biden, via CNN.
A world unstained by the daily evils of bigotry and intolerance, where human rights are respected, and where all people are able to pursue their lives in dignity and security, President Joe Biden, via CNN.
Let us renew our shared resolve to prevent future atrocities from occurring anywhere in the world.
And let us pursue healing and reconciliation for all the people of the world, President Joe Biden, via CNN.
As many as two million Armenians were systematically deported and killed under the Ottoman Empire during World War I.
The Turkish government has maintained that far fewer Armenians were killed, and that they lost their lives "under the difficult circumstances" of wartime.
Under the Ottoman Empire prior to the war, Armenians were a thriving community of more than 2 million.
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Post World War I in 1922, the Armenian community had been decimated to less than a fifth of its prior population.
Biden's use of the word genocide is in keeping with his campaign promises in which he pledged to make "universal human rights a top priority."
