US President Joe Biden on Saturday said the 1915 massacres of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire constituted genocide, a historic declaration that is set to infuriate Turkey and potentially further damage frayed ties between the two NATO allies.
The largely symbolic move, breaking away from decades of carefully calibrated language from the White House, will likely to be celebrated by the Armenian diaspora in the United States, but comes at a time when Ankara and Washington have deep policy disagreements over a host of issues.
“The American people honor all those Armenians who perished in the genocide that began 106 years ago today,” Biden said in a statement.
“Over the decades Armenian immigrants have enriched the United States in countless ways, but they have never forgotten the tragic history … We honor their story. We see that pain. We affirm the history. We do this not to cast blame but to ensure that what happened is never repeated,” he said.
For decades, measures recognizing the Armenian genocide stalled in the US Congress and US presidents have refrained from calling it that, stymied by concerns about relations with Turkey and intense lobbying by Ankara.
Turkey accepts that many Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire were killed in clashes with Ottoman forces during World War One, but contests the figures and denies the killings were systematically orchestrated and constitute a genocide.
“We have lived together in peace in this land for centuries, we find peace under the shadow of our crescent and star flag,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said in response to the announcement.
“Being politicized by third parties and turning it into an intervention tool against our country has not helped anyone,” he continued, referring to Biden’s statement. “I believe that it is a great injustice for the new generations to build on the pain of the past.”
Erdogan went on to say that “Turks and Armenians, we now need to show that we have reached the maturity to overcome all obstacles together.”
Turkish Presidential Spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said on Saturday the United States should look to its own past in response to Biden’s announcement.
“We strongly condemn and reject the US President’s remarks which only repeat the accusations of those whose sole agenda is enmity towards our country,” Kalin said on Twitter. “We advise the US President to look at (his country’s) own past and present.”
Armenia’s prime minister Nikol Pashinyan told Biden in a letter on Saturday that recognition of the genocide is a matter of security to Armenia, especially after events that took place in the region last year when a war in Nagorno-Karabakh broke out.
“Armenians all over the world met with great enthusiasm and welcomed recognition of genocide,” Pashinyan said in the letter to Biden published on his website.
HD Editor’s Note: Why Is This News Biblically Relevant?
Pastor Ed Hickey of Calvary Chapel in London, Ontario, explained to his Church that this development is not only big news, but also prophetically significant:
“1915-18 in Turkey, there was a massive Armenian Christian genocide. One and a half million Christians were put to death by the Muslim leaders in that country, the Young Turks,” Pastor Ed said. “The world has ignored it. Western countries, NATO countries have gone out of their way to not talk about it, not mention it.”
“Leaders don’t want to acknowledge it because it pushes Turkey away from NATO and towards Russia; that’s the reason,” the Calvary Chapel Pastor continued. “Now, of course, when I read Ezekiel’s end times prophecy, I see Turkey lining up closer with Russia than anyone else. This is a significant event.”
In Ezekiel 38-39, the Bible speaks of a coming war in which Russia, Iran, Turkey, and others, will attack the Jewish State. The alliance of countries will attempt to invade Israel from the north, which will result in God’s direct intervention.
We are already witnessing this Ezekiel 38 alliance of nations cooperating together like never before, with Russia, Iran, and Turkey all positioning themselves in Syria to the north of the Jewish State.
