CSW welcomes reports that on 24 April US President Joe Biden is expected to formally recognise the massacre of Armenian people during World War One as genocide.

CSW welcomes reports that on 24 April US President Joe Biden is expected to become the first president to formally recognise the massacre of Armenian people by the Ottoman Empire during World War One as an act of genocide.

The anniversary of the Armenian genocide of 1915, in which 1.5 million Armenians were killed on the orders of the Turkish government, is marked every year on 24 April. The government of Turkey has consistently refused to recognise this as a genocide, stating that the atrocities, which included mass killings, torture, rape, systematic deportations and destruction of cultural and religious sites, were not committed by the Turkish authorities, but by a small political party.

The seeming international indifference following the Armenian genocide encouraged Hitler, who uttered the infamous remark: "Who talks nowadays about the destruction of the Armenians.” The methods of extermination utilised against the Armenians bear striking resemblances to those subsequently used in the Holocaust.

CSW-USA’s CEO Kori Porter said: “The importance of President Biden’s expected formal affirmation of the Armenian genocide cannot be overstated. Over a century after these crimes were committed, Armenians around the world have continued to be denied justice and truth. By recognising what took place in the country, President Biden will go some way towards addressing this. We call on the international community to honour the lives lost in the Armenian genocide by intervening consistently in every situation where the risk factors and early warning signs of potential genocide are visible, and working to end the current blockage in the international courts which mean that justice mechanisms for victims remain elusive."