Biden's Genocide remarks not assigning blame, Blinken says
US President Joe Biden's recognition of the Armenian Genocide is not seeking to pin blame on Turkey, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on April 28. Speaking at a virtual event with foreign media, Blinken said Biden's recognition should not have been any surprise because the U.S. president "expressed views that he's held for many, many years, and he's been very clear about that.”
"As the president noted, the commemoration of Remembrance Day is to honor the victims, not to assign blame. And of course, the focus that we put on this involved events in the waning days of the Ottoman Empire," said Blinken.
Biden formally recognized the Armenian Genocide on Saturday in his statement on the Armenian remembrance Day, breaking with a long-held tradition by American presidents of refraining from using the term.