Biden calls Erdogan ahead of expected Armenian genocide labeling
The White House readout of the call between the two leaders did not mention the Armenian genocide.
President Joe Biden held a highly anticipated phone call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday, the White House said, a day before the US administration is widely expected to formally recognize the century-old massacre of Armenians in modern-day Turkey as a “genocide.”
Biden conveyed “his interest in a constructive bilateral relationship with expanded areas of cooperation and effective management of disagreements,” the White House said in a statement, adding that the two leaders agreed to hold a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the NATO summit in June.
The US readout of the call — Biden’s first with Erdogan since he took office in January — comes a day before Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day, but did not mention the issue. Neither did a statement from the Turkish presidency, which said Erdogan and Biden “agreed on the importance of working together to expand cooperation.”
During the 2020 campaign, Biden pledged to be the first American president to support a resolution labeling the mass killing of up to 1.5 million Armenians at the hands of Ottoman forces beginning in 1915 as a “genocide.” Asked about a possible announcement, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters on Friday to expect “more in the coming days."
