Turkey rejects Biden's remarks on Armenian claims

Turkey’s Foreign Ministry on Saturday said remarks by US President Joe Biden on Armenian claims about the events of 1915 lacks any scholarly or legal basis and is not supported by evidence, Anadolu Agency reports.

“We reject and denounce in the strongest terms the statement of the President of the US regarding the events of 1915 made under the pressure of radical Armenian circles and anti-Turkey groups on 24 April,” the ministry said in a statement.

It said none of the conditions required for use of the term “genocide” — strictly defined in international law — are met by the events of 1915.

“The nature of the events of 1915 does not change according to the current political motives of politicians or domestic political considerations. Such an attitude serves only a vulgar distortion of history,” stressed the statement.

The ministry said the statement by Biden, who is neither legally nor morally authorised to judge historical events, has no value.

READ: Biden under pressure to recognise Armenian massacre as genocide