UPDATE - Turkiye 'rejects' US President Biden's remarks on events of 1915

ADDS TURKISH FOREIGN MINISTER CAVUSOGLU'S QUOTE

By Merve Aydogan

ANKARA (AA) - Turkiye on Sunday rejected and condemned statements made by US President Joe Biden regarding the events of 1915.

"Statements that are incompatible with historical facts and international law regarding the events of 1915 are not valid. This includes the unfortunate statement made by US President Biden today, which is the repetition of the mistake he had made in 2021," said a Foreign Ministry statement.

Stressing that Ankara rejects "such statements and decisions, which distort historical facts with political motives," the ministry also condemned "those who insist on this mistake."

"One-sided and selective approaches that serve no purpose other than to draw enmity from history are morally problematic and politically ill-intentioned," it noted.

The ministry also asserted that commemorating "all sufferings experienced at that period, without ethnic or religious discrimination" requires a humanitarian and conscientious stance.

Turkiye respectfully commemorates the sufferings of the entire Ottoman population, including Armenians, it added. "We reject the attempts to exploit this pain for political purposes."

Citing Turkiye's proposition to establish a joint historical commission and open both countries' archives, Ankara reiterated its call to study "controversial episodes in history," such as the events of 1915, "without prejudice by respecting the scientific and legal principles in order to reach a just memory."

"Turkiye strives for peace and stability in its region and in the world, and the spirit of cooperation to prevail. The normalization initiative with Armenia is another manifestation of this understanding," the ministry said.

Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Twitter also criticized some of the Western leaders’ position regarding the events of 1915 and called it "hypocrisy."

"Some Western leaders recently argued that 'genocide' can only be determined by a court decision. So true!" Cavusoglu stressed as he shared a video of Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron.

"The very same leaders using the term 'genocide' with political motives for the events of 1915 despite the lack of a competent court decision is nothing but hypocrisy," he added.