President Joe Biden’s April 24th statement should not have been a surprise, considering his well-known views, Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said.
“President Biden expressed the views he had held for many years. He was very clear about that as US senator. He was clear about that during his campaign. Therefore, I don’t think there should have been any surprise,” Secretary Blinken said.
“It’s also true that the President has made clear from day one his determination to put human rights and democracy at the heart of our foreign policy. And part of that includes making sure that there is an understanding of history and acknowledgement of past atrocities precisely, in order to prevent their recurrence,” the Secretary said, speaking at a virtual roundtable with Foreign Media at Foreign Press Center.
“As the President noted, the commemoration of the Remembrance Day is to honor the victims, not to assign blame,” he said, adding that the US continues to expect expanded bilateral relations with Turkey.
US President Joseph Biden officially recognized the Armenian Genocide on Saturday rejecting the longest-lasting foreign gag-rule in American history and dealing a major setback to Turkey’s century-long obstruction of justice for this crime.
“The American people honor all those Armenians who perished in the genocide that began 106 years ago today,” Biden said in a statement on anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.
