The United States had long avoided formally recognising the 1915 mass killings of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire during World War I as a “genocide”.
Now, President Joe Biden has become the first American leader to do just that.
He said Washington is doing this “not to cast blame”, but to “ensure what happened is never repeated”.
The move has caused anger in Turkey, where the government disputes the number of Armenians killed during the end of the Ottoman Empire and denies it was a genocide.
It strongly rejected Biden’s designation and summoned the American ambassador in protest.
But many Armenians and rights groups have welcomed the decision.
So, where does this leave relations between two of NATO’s biggest armies?
Presenter: Peter Dobbie
Guests:
Nicholas Danforth – Non–resident fellow, Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy and author of, The Remaking of Republican Turkey: Memory and Modernity since the Fall of the Ottoman Empire
Mehmet Celik – Managing editor of Daily Sabah, a Turkish-based English language daily newspaper
