President Joe Biden on Saturday became the first American president to officially recognize the Ottoman Empire’s killing and deportation of Armenians over a century ago as a genocide.
“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,” Biden said in a statement.
“Today, 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,” Biden continued. “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. 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.”
The move comes a year and a half after the Senate passed a resolution recognizing the Armenian genocide in Turkey.
Armenian National Committee of America Chairman Raffi Hamparian praised Biden for his remarks.
“President Biden’s principled stand on the Armenian Genocide today — powerfully overriding Ankara’s foreign veto against honest American remembrance of this crime — pivots America toward the justice deserved and the security required for the future of the Armenian nation — a landlocked, blockaded, genocide-survivor state,” he said in a statement.
