It is with deep regret that we receive U.S. President Joe Biden’s April 24, 2021, statement regarding the events of 1915. We reject and categorically condemn the statement’s accusation of “genocide,” which lacks any historical basis and offends our nation. The contents of the text show that Biden has bowed to domestic U.S. political considerations, rather than act in light of historical truths.
The collapse of multinational empires is almost always accompanied by great pains; Regardless of ethnicity or religion this was the fate of every community that was part of the 600-year Ottoman Empire. Accordingly, we do not deny the pains experienced by the Armenians. At the same time, however, let us not forget how millions of Turks and other Muslim communities within the empire were uprooted and forced from their ancestral homes in the Balkans and the Caucasus around the turn of the 20th century as a result of oppression and massacres inflicted upon them. The incidents that occurred between Turks and Armenians in Anatolia in 1915 were part of this painful episode for both sides.
We must not derive hostilities from the past and measure past agonies against each other but open all archives and analyze the events in an objective and scholarly fashion, building friendships in light of the truths that come to light. We would like to recall, once more, Turkey’s proposal from 2005 to form a “joint historical commission.”
We would also like to take this opportunity to respectfully bow our heads in memory of our diplomats who were slain by Armenian terrorists acting according to perverted historical views.
