Context: Recently, the US President officially recognised the mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks in 1915-16 as an act of genocide.
About Armenian Genocide

• The Armenian Genocide is often called the first genocide of the twentieth century.
• It refers to the systematic annihilation of Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire between 1915 and 1917 i.e. during the First World War.
• According to estimates, approximately 1.5 million Armenians died. This is due to genocide, either massacre and killings, or from ill-treatment, abuse and starvation.
• The Armenian diaspora marks April 24 as Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day.

Significance of Acknowledgment by US

• The acknowledgement by the US government would have a little legal impact on Turkey. It will only cause an embarrassment for Turkey. The US acknowledgement perhaps provides impetus to other countries for acknowledging the genocide.

Turkey’s stand

• Turkey has acknowledged that atrocities were committed against Armenians. But Turkey denies it as a genocide. As genocide will come with legal implications. Further, Turkey also challenges the estimates that 1.5 million were killed.

India’s stand

• India has not formally recognised the Armenian Genocide. It has primarily adopted this stance because of India’s geo-political interests in the region.

Note: The term "Genocide" was first coined in year 1943 by a Polish lawyer named Raphael Lemkin. According to Article II of the United Nations (UN) Convention on Genocide of December 1948, genocide has been described as carrying out acts intended “to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group”.

By: Shubham Tiwari