Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – President of the United States (US), Joe Biden declared that the massacre of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire (Ottoman Empire), in 1915 and then as genocide. This was conveyed on Saturday (24/4/2021), fulfilling the campaign promise he had expressed during the US Presidential Election, against his former rival, Donald Trump.
“Every year on this day, we remember the lives of all those who died in the Ottoman-era Armenian genocide and recommit to preventing such atrocities from happening again,” said Biden.
This statement is quite surprising, considering that previous US presidents such as Barack Obama and Donald Trump rejected the phrase genocide because it was considered to be damaging America’s diplomatic relations with Turkey.
Responding to Biden’s statement, the Turkish foreign ministry summoned US Ambassador David Satterfield to express his displeasure, as Biden’s statement was deemed to have caused “an irreparable wound in the relationship”.
Citing Reuters, here are the facts to know about the Armenian massacre in April 1915.
First, it is stated that in 1894-1896 tens of thousands of Armenians who converted to Christianity and lived in Eastern Anatolia which is now Eastern Turkey, were massacred by the Ottoman Empire, especially ethnic Kurds.
Meanwhile, in 1896, thousands more were also reported killed in Constantinople, now Istanbul as the Armenian army attempted to seize Ottoman-controlled territory.
Then, during World War I, the Ottoman Empire fought Russian troops in eastern Anatolia, which led to many Armenians forming partisan groups to help Russian soldiers attacking the Ottomans.
The climax, on April 24, 1915, the Ottoman Empire captured Armenians one by one and killed them in ethnic cleansing.
Then in May 1915, the Ottoman commanders began the mass deportations of Armenians from eastern Anatolia. Thousands of people driven from their territories went south to Syria and Mesopotamia.
At that time, live Armenian witnesses said about 1.5 million people died in the massacre or died of starvation and exhaustion in the desert.
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