The March of Death: Biden Prepares to Declare It Genocide

After more than a century since the Ottoman Empire committed a massacre against approximately 1.5 million Armenian civilians, U.S. President Joe Biden is preparing to announce that the atrocities committed were a genocide, according to administration officials. This move would indicate that U.S. commitment to human rights exceeds the risk of escalating tensions in the U.S.-Turkey alliance. Biden is expected to make the declaration on Saturday, the 106th anniversary of the start of what historians call the systematic March of Death, initiated by the ancestors of modern Turkey during World War I. Previously, Ronald Reagan briefly referred to the Armenian genocide in a written statement in 1981. Both the House of Representatives and the Senate passed measures in 2019 to make recognition a formal matter of U.S. foreign policy. At least 29 other countries have taken similar steps, mostly in Europe and the Americas, as well as Russia and Syria, Turkey's political adversaries. A U.S. official familiar with the administration's discussions stated that Biden decided to issue the announcement, and others in the government and foreign embassies have said it was widely anticipated. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki declined to comment on Wednesday, except to indicate that the administration would have "more to say" on the matter on Saturday. Armenian Foreign Minister Ara Aivazian stated in an interview on Wednesday that "U.S. recognition would be a moral beacon for many countries." Aivazian added, "This is not about Armenia and Turkey; it's about our commitment to recognizing and condemning genocide in the past, present, and future."