Erdogan says relations between the United States and Turkey are minimal with regard to the Armenian genocide

Recep Tayyip Erdogan said troubled relations between Turkey and the United States had fallen to a new low after Joe Biden formally acknowledged that Armenians suffered genocide a century ago on land now in Turkey.

But Erdogan stopped announcing any retaliatory steps and instead reiterated his desire to work with Turkey’s NATO ally, expressing concern that further tensions could hurt his economy by 717,000. millions of dollars.

Biden on Saturday described the assassination of 1.5 million Armenians beginning in 1915 as genocide, departing from the carefully crafted statements of previous administrations, they were issued every day from the memory of the Armenian genocide that avoided the term in accordance with Turkey’s wishes.

In his first public statements since Biden’s statement, Erdogan called on the US president to “immediately reverse this wrong step” and accused him of yielding to political pressure from “radical Armenian circles and anti-Turkey groups.” .

“This does not diminish the devastating effects it will have on our bilateral relations,” he said in a televised speech. “Damaged” ties with the United States “have now fallen well below that level with the April 24 announcement, which added insult to injury.”

Ankara and Washington disagree on a number of issues, including Erdogan’s check on human rights, Turkey’s purchase of Russian missiles designed to shoot down NATO planes and a US federal indictment a Turkish state bank to allegedly help Iran dodge sanctions.

Apprehension over Turkey’s economic and foreign policies has deterred investors in recent years and Erdogan had said he hoped to turn the page with the US and EU to improve trade ties and protect the fragile economy.

Erdogan confirmed that he and Biden would meet in June to discuss their differences, but warned that not resolving them could cause Turkey to take action on its own.

“We need to put aside the issues that are poisoning our bilateral relations and look at the steps we can take together in the future. Otherwise, we will have no choice but to implement practices that are required of the new level to which our relations have retreated, ”he said.

He did not detail what measures Turkey could take. The two countries share a defense pact that allows U.S. military access to Turkish bases. Earlier, Erdogan has withdrawn ambassadors or canceled trade deals when other governments have acknowledged the genocide.

Erdogan hinted that retaliation could be directed at the neighboring republic of Armenia and that it would provide details in the coming days of joint measures that Turkey and Azerbaijan could take. Turkey supplied weapons to Azerbaijan in his war against Armenia last year, helping it regain most of the territory that Baku had lost in the early 1990s.

The Turkish leader said Biden’s statement jeopardized the possibility of reconciliation with Armenia, with which Turkey cut diplomatic ties and sealed its borders three decades ago to show support for Azerbaijan.

Biden had pledged during his presidential campaign to recognize genocide, part of a foreign policy he said he would prioritize human rights. U.S. government officials said the recognition was aimed at honoring the victims rather than “blaming them” and that Biden had informed Erdogan a day before his statement in the leaders’ first phone call. since the U.S. election.

The United States joins some thirty countries and most historians in concluding that the massacres and deportations of Armenians that began in 1915 were genocide. The Ottoman Empire’s war campaigns to clean up areas of Christian populations laid the groundwork for the much less diverse Turkish republic established in 1923 after the collapse of the empire.

Erdogan reiterated Turkish claims that people were “temporarily relocated” to avoid collusion with foreign forces during the war and that “Armenian gangs” had killed Muslim civilians. The lack of an international judicial ruling prevented the Armenian deaths from being classified as genocide, he said, repeating his call to “leave the debate with historians.”

Today there are less than 60,000 ethnic Armenians left in Turkey and they are sporadically targeted for hate crimes, such as church vandalism. Erdogan warned that they could now bear the brunt of the dispute.

“These debates do not offer the Armenian community the slightest benefit, on the contrary, they can become a new source of problems,” he said.