President Biden is expected to soon declare the Ottoman Empire’s killing of an estimated 1.5 million Armenian civilians over a century ago an act of genocide according to multiple reports.
Remember when Turkish bodyguards stomped peaceful protesters on American soil?
Go on Biden!
Good. Screw Erdogan and his squelching of multi-party democracy, rebellion against Atatürk’s modernization of the country, and cozying up to Putin.
Still have to dance with them due to NATO and their critical control of the Bosporus, but the US needs to establish that there will be pushback and consequences no matter how symbolic.
“critical control of the Bosporus” is one of history’s repeating themes.
How many lives were lost over time in the violent struggles to hold and control that bottleneck?
Both chambers of Congress approved measures in 2019 to make the genocide’s recognition a formal matter of U.S. foreign policy and a bipartisan group of 38 senators addressed a letter to Biden last month, urging him to make the declaration which was part of his pledge on the campaign trail last year.
Everyone knew it was a waste of time to send this measure to T rumpp. He would make no such declaration against his tyrant friend, Erdogan.
Maybe the Turkish government can pay Michael Flynn to issue a counter declaration?
(Blood libel) Bearing False Witness is when you wrongly accuse someone of a heinous crime (murder). But it should also apply to those who purposely refuse to accept their own shared culpability. To the extent that they would deny that any atrocity took place.
We see this in the VA gubernatorial `candidate who is “sickened” by the Chauvin verdict. The denialists on Fox who wanted to go into the medical specifics surrounding George Floyd’s death in order to blunt the impact of Chauvin’s actions, are no different.
There has to be a term for this, Most likely there is a 15 syllable German word for it. Deplorable is too nice, but it’s a start.
Edited for clarity
“And we will be witnessing less tragedies, less human losses, once the United States will reaffirm its moral leadership in these turbulent times.”
Another reason to reassure me that my vote counted.
LONG OVERDUE!!! This is an important development, and President Biden must be thanked for having the courage and decency to acknoweldge what everyone knows to be true, especially the Turks.
The next acknowledgement that would be nice to see is that the Justice Department is investigating the apparently illicit and illegal payment of a large sum of money to an offshore account controlled by Donald Trump, which took place just before the coordinated Turkish-Azerbaijani aggression against the Armenians of Nagorno Karabagh in 2020, in direct violation of the NATO treaty and civilized norms.
Suck it, you racist thug Erdogan!
What next, though? Russia? China? Israel? Iran? Trump’s USA?
Seems the Biden administration skillfully uses carrots and sticks, when necessary, unlike Donnie’s consistent self-serving and foolish subservience and fealty to tyrants and dictators.
I was thinking this also looks like a big “Fuck you” to Flynn and his buddies.
It’s sure comforting that Harris has assigned the real important stuff to Joe. I know I was certainly waiting for an aggressive decision on this. Sad!
There’s so much shit going on daily under the Trump administration I completely forgot the time Turkish goons who have no standing in the US whatsoever beat up on American protesters, and the President did absolutely nothing about it.
Can’t wait to hear from the Anglo-Saxon caucus.
If you are a Native American, you must find Biden’s declaration just a bit rich. Or a booted Armenian Azeri who has been living in a refugee camp in Azerbaijan since the 1990s. Or a Moro tribe member in the Southern Philippines. Or a survivor of Trump’s covid autogenocide of Americans last year.
Not a foreign policy expert in any way, but I think we’re in that sweet spot w/Turkey where this is a good time to finally acknowledge. There’s no pretense of being on better terms than we really are, and no need to hold back on this any longer.
I am generally sympathetic to Turks, but they have let Erdogan stay in power way too long.
Excellent points, but it’s still an important step to take.
Perhaps other acknowledgments of genocide will follow
(though I’m not going to hold my breath).
I hope Turkey retaliates by shutting down the Trump Towers Istanbul!!