USA acknowledges mass slaughter of Armenians in WWI as ‘genocide’

President Joe Biden of the United States has officially recognised the mass slaughter of Armenians during World War I, in the Ottoman Empire as "genocide," a step which Turkey has vehemently opposed.

Biden in his statement said, "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," he further remarked, "We affirm the history. We do this not to cast blame but to ensure that what happened is never repeated."

The statement released on Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day read as, “Each year on this day, 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,” it further said, “The American people honor all those Armenians who perished in the genocide that began 106 years ago today.”

Turkey's Foreign Minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, said the US decision was founded "solely on populism," and that Turkey "entirely rejects" it. He also took to Twitter to release his statement, "We have nothing to learn from anybody on our own past. Political opportunism is the greatest betrayal to peace and justice.”

“Words cannot change or rewrite history.”

We have nothing to learn from anybody on our own past. Political opportunism is the greatest betrayal to peace and justice.

We entirely reject this statement based solely on populism.#1915Events

— MevlütÇavuşoğlu (@MevlutCavusoglu) April 24, 2021

Joe Biden became the first US president to use the term "genocide" in a speech, a day after telling Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of the move and attempting to calm down the NATO ally's outrage.

Armenian Americans welcomed the move and considered it as long overdue, when Biden formally established the widespread killing and expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Armenians by Ottoman Empire powers in the early 1900s to be genocide.

The move is a huge win for Armenia and its large diaspora across the world, with countries like Uruguay's recognizing the genocide in 1965, countries such as France, Germany, Canada, and Russia have followed suit.

For years, USA has resisted using the word genocide due to concerns of upsetting Turkey, a NATO ally and powerful Middle Eastern force.