Turkey entirely rejects U.S. President Joe Biden's recognition of the 1915 events during the Ottoman Empire period as "genocide", Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said, minutes after Biden's declaration.
"We have nothing to learn from anybody on our own past. Political opportunism is the greatest betrayal to peace and justice," Çavuşoğlu said on Twitter. "We entirely reject this statement based solely on populism."
"Words cannot change or rewrite history. Turkey has nothing to learn from anybody about its own past," Çavuşoğlu stressed in a social media post.
Saying that political opportunism is the greatest betrayal of peace and justice, he stressed that Turkey totally rejects Biden's statement.
Earlier Saturday, Biden called the events of 1915 a "genocide," breaking American presidents' long-held tradition of refraining from using the term.
Turkey's position on the events of 1915 is that the deaths of Armenians in eastern Anatolia took place when some sided with invading Russians and revolted against Ottoman forces. A subsequent relocation of Armenians resulted in numerous casualties.
Turkey objects to the presentation of these incidents as "genocide," describing them as a tragedy in which both sides suffered casualties.
Ankara has repeatedly proposed the creation of a joint commission of historians from Turkey and Armenia as well as international experts to tackle the issue.
In 2014, then-Prime Minister Erdoğan expressed condolences to the descendants of Armenians who lost their lives in the events of 1915.
