The Foreign Service Journal, June 2021

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | JUNE 2021 17 Biden Recognizes Armenian Genocide O n April 24 Joe Biden became the first U.S. president to officially recognize the Turkishmassacre of Armenians more than a century ago as genocide, CNN reported. “Each year on this day, we remember the lives of all those who died in the Otto- man-era Armenian genocide and recom- mit ourselves to preventing such an atrocity from ever again occurring,” Biden wrote in a statement commemorating the 106th anniversary of the start of the massacre. “One and a half million Armenians were deported, massacred or marched to their deaths in a campaign of extermination.” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan demanded that Biden reverse his declaration, Reuters reported on April 26, declaring: “The U.S. president has made baseless, unjust and untrue remarks about the sad events that took place in our geography over a century ago.” After Biden’s statement, Turkey sum- moned U.S. Ambassador to Turkey David Satterfield. In Armenia, meanwhile, it was officially welcomed as a step toward “the restoration of truth and historical justice.” In 1981 President Ronald Reagan made a passing reference to the Armenian geno- cide during a statement about the holo- caust, but it was not followed by a formal recognition by the U.S. government. TheUnited States has long seenTurkey as a critical ally in theMiddle East. But relations have deteriorated in the past several years. State Department Wins Disabilities Award F or the second straight year, CAREERS & the disABLED Magazine has rec- ognized the State Department with its Government Employer of the Year Award. The magazine announced the award in its Winter 2020 issue.