In
a phone one to one call, the two reportedly discussed what will be a first for a
US president: calling the 1915 mass killings a ‘genocide’ in Armenia.
U.S. President Joe Biden has told Turkish President Recpp Tayyip Erdogan that he plans to accept the killings of Armenian people in the Ottoman Empire during World War I as an act of "genocide".
The two spoke on Friday for the first time since Biden became president in January, the day before Biden's long-awaited speeches describing the killings as "genocide", an act that would further end relations already between the United States and Turkey.
"When it comes to the Armenian genocide, you can expect an announcement tomorrow," US Deputy Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jalina Porter told reporters Friday, refusing to divulge details.
Biden will be the first US president to officially end the killing of 1.5 million Armenian people in the Ottoman Empire from 1915 to 1917 as a genocide.
Turkey has welcomed the death of Armenian people in the Ottoman Empire during World War I, but has strongly denied that the killings were organized and carried out.
If Biden continues to accept genocide as a genocide, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Tuesday, it would further damage relations between NATO.
A spokesman for Turkish President Fahrettin Altun on Tuesday called the genocide “an unconstitutional slander and a political one. It is an emotional, irrational, and illegal offense. ”
Meanwhile, Biden and Erdogan agreed when asked to meet in June when the two men would be in Brussels for a NATO summit, the White House said on Friday.
The three-month delay in Biden making his first access to Erdogan is seen as a cold shoulder to the Turkish president, who had close ties to former President Donald Trump.
The White House account for Friday's call did not comment on the Armenian issue.
"President Biden spoke today with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, expressing his interest in the development of relations and expanded areas of cooperation and effective conflict management," the White House said in a statement.
It said the two leaders had agreed to meet at the end of the NATO summit in June to discuss the relationship between the two countries.
"Both of these leaders agreed on the wisdom of bilateral relations and the importance of cooperation in order to build greater cooperation on the issues involved," the Turkish president said in a statement.
In recent weeks, Biden officials have stepped up pressure on Turkey by repeatedly expressing their dissatisfaction with Ankara's human rights record, leaving a gap between the two sides over many issues including Turkey's purchase of Russian weapons programs and policy differences against Syria.
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