Erdogan, Aliyev plot response to Biden's Armenian Genocide message

PanARMENIAN.Net - Turkish and Azerbaijani Presidents Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Ilham Aliyev, spoke over the phone on Saturday, April 24 to discuss "joint steps" a statement from U.S. President Joe Biden recognizing the Armenian Genocide was published by the White House, Izvestia said citing reports from Turkey.

In a statement published on the website of the White House, Biden made good on a campaign promise and became the first American President to use the term “Genocide” on an April 24 Remembrance Day to describe the massacre of 1.5 million Armenians in the Ottoman Empire between 1915 and 1923.

Erdogan, meanwhile, offered condolences to the Patriarch of Turkey's Armenian community Sahak Mashlian for the Armenian population of Ottoman Empire who lost their lives during the “difficult conditions” of World War I.

On April 24, 1915, a large group of Armenian intellectuals was rounded up and assassinated in Constantinople by the Ottoman government. Today, on April 24, Armenians worldwide are commemorating the 106th anniversary of the Genocide which continued until 1923. Some three dozen countries, hundreds of local government bodies and international organizations have so far recognized the killings of 1.5 million Armenians as Genocide. Turkey denies to this day.