The State Department released a statement reaffirming that the Trump administration doesn’t recognize the Turkish slaughter and expulsion of more than a million Armenians as a “genocide.”
The news comes a day after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned that lawmakers in his country may recognize the deaths of Native Americans as a genocide. Erdogan made the threat after Congress approved recognition and condemnation of the genocide.
Before passing in the Senate unanimously last week, the bipartisan condemnation was approved in the House by a 405-11 vote. The vote is a direct rebuke to Turkey, which has lobbied against referring to the massacre as a genocide. Between 1915 and 1923, an estimated 1.5 million Armenians died at the hands of the Ottoman Empire.
State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said in a Tuesday statement, “The position of the administration has not changed. Our views are reflected in the president’s definitive statement on this issue from last April.”
On April 24, which marks global Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day, President Trump condemned the killings but would not refer to them as a genocide.
“Beginning in 1915, one and a half million Armenians were deported, massacred, or marched to their deaths in the final years of the Ottoman Empire,” Trump said. “We welcome the efforts of Armenians and Turks to acknowledge and reckon with their painful history.”
Last week’s Senate vote came after three Republicans previously voted to block the legislation in the Senate at the urging of the White House, which worried the move would damage an already strained relationship with the NATO ally.
