ISTANBUL — A small group of Turkish protesters gathers outside the American consulate in Istanbul to protest US President Joe Biden’s decision to call the Ottoman Empire’s mass deportations and killings of Armenians a century ago a “genocide.”
A few dozen protestors hold banners and chant slogans. “Genocide is a lie, it’s an American plan,” they say. Demonstrators also demand an end to the American military’s use of Incirlik airbase In southern Turkey, shouting: “American soldiers, get out of Turkey!”
On Saturday, Biden followed through on a campaign promise to recognize the events that began in 1915 and killed an estimated 1.5 million Armenians in the Ottoman Empire as genocide.
Turkish officials strongly condemned the proclamation, claiming there are no legal or historical grounds for the use of the word. They say both Armenians and Turks were killed as World War I ravaged the Ottoman Empire.
The US consulates and the embassy are closed for routine visits until Wednesday after they issued a demonstration alert in the aftermath of Biden’s announcement.
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