Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan strongly condemned the recognition of United States (US) President Joe Biden for the genocide of armenians by the Ottoman Empire in 1915. He said the statement was unfounded and could not be justified in any way.

Erdogan's condemnation came on Monday (26/4), days after Biden declared recognition of a mass murder incident that occurred more than a century ago. He said the U.S. assessment had no legal or historical basis for the painful events that saddened the Turkish people.

According to Erdogan, the U.S. has succumbed to pressure from groups that have anti-Turkish attitudes and interests toward Armenia. Nonetheless, this is said by him not to change the destructive impact of the statement between Washington and Ankara.

"We believe that these comments were included in the declaration following pressure from Armenian radical groups and anti-Turkish circles. However, this situation does not reduce the destructive impact of these comments," he explained, reported from Aljazirah, Monday (26/4).

Furthermore, Erdogan hopes the U.S. will soon reverse the recognition. Earlier, a senior State Government official, Uncle Sam, said Biden's statement was aimed at honoring the victims in the World War I-era incident and was not intended to damage relations between Washington and Ankara.

"Every year on this day, we remember the lives of all Armenians killed in the Ottoman era and are committed to preventing atrocities like this from happening again," Biden said in a statement on the Ottoman genocide of Armenia on Saturday (24/4).

The incident, referred to as a genocide of the past, occurred on April 24, 1915, when thousands of Armenian intellectuals suspected of opposing Ottoman rule were arrested. They were systematically persecuted and murdered in 1915 and 1916.

According to reports, up to 1.5 million Armenians actually lost their lives as a result of the persecution during that one-year period. Nevertheless, Turkey emphatically refused to classify the incident as genocide, saying that both Armenians and Turks were killed in a civil dispute that occurred when armenians rose up against the Ottoman rulers and sided with the invading Russian forces.

"We respect their stories. We saw the pain. We affirm history. We are doing this not to blame, but to ensure that what happens never happens," Biden explained in the statement.

Earlier, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said biden's recognition of the 1915 Ottoman Empire-era genocide was part of the country's security concerns, following a conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh involving Azerbaijan last year.

"The recognition of genocide is a matter of truth, historical justice, and security for the Republic of Armenia, especially with regard to the events that occurred in our region last year," Pashinyan said in a statement written in a letter to Biden and published on the prime minister's website on Sunday (25/4).

Pashinyan attributed the recognition of the genocide to the incident of fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces last year. The conflict was halted by a deal brokered by Russia in November 2020. However, this is considered more advantageous for Azerbaijan which is supported by Turkey as its close ally.