Erdogan: American recognition of Armenian genocide with devastating impact on US reports

The US Vice President “made groundless, unfair and contrary statements,” when he admitted the Armenian genocide on Saturday”, Erdogan told reporters after the Government's meeting in Ankara.

On the anniversary of the massacre of Armenians yesterday, Beiden wrote in a statement that “Americars always pay tribute to Armenians who died in the genocide that began 106 years ago”.

We think those words were included in the statement following pressure from radical Armenian groups and anti-Turkish circles. But it doesn't change anything in the devastating impact of those words on relations between the two countries”, Erdogan said.

Beden was the first American president to call “the genocide” the murder of 1.5 million Armenians during the Ottoman Empire in 1915. His statement provoked Turkey's anger.

The massacre of Armenians since 1915 has been recognised by more than twenty countries and numerous historians as genocide, but Turkey strongly opposes it.

Biden's statement was immediately condemned by Turkish officials, who claimed there was no legal or historical basis for using the word genocide. They stressed that both Turks and Armenians were killed during the war.

Historians estimate that 1.5 million Armenians were killed in the Ottoman Empire during and after World War I, which experts consider the first genocide of the 20th century.

The heir to the empire, the Turkish Republic, declared in 1923, denies that it was genocide but that they were victims of civil war and unrest during the fall of the Ottoman Empire, whose numbers were exaggerated and that the deaths were on both sides.

“The charges of genocide are so sensitive that they cannot be used for political purposes,” added Erdogan.

Despite the criticism, Erdogan said it was “safely” that his planned meeting with Biden in June on the sidelines of NATO's summit in Brussels would provide an opportunity to reduce tensions between the two countries.