Protesters outside the Incirlik Air Base in southern Turkey have demanded that all US troops withdraw in the wake of President Joe Biden's recognition of the 1915 Armenian genocide, the political party Vatan, which organized the rally, told Sputnik on Tuesday
ANKARA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 27th April, 2021) Protesters outside the Incirlik Air Base in southern Turkey have demanded that all US troops withdraw in the wake of President Joe Biden's recognition of the 1915 Armenian genocide, the political party Vatan, which organized the rally, told Sputnik on Tuesday.
On Saturday, Biden used the word "genocide" to describe the persecution of the Armenian people by the Ottoman authorities in his Armenian Remembrance Day statement, prompting objections from Ankara.
"For half a century, the Incirlik base has been a nest of US agents, terrorism, [and] one of the centers of [the 2016 coup attempt] and served as a shelter for its organizers. It is an enemy center, used against our neighbors and brethren in Central Asia. We are calling to have the Incirlik and Kurecik [bases] transferred to the Turkish air force; the US troops should be sent home within 15 days," the vice chairman of the party, Serdar Uskupu, said in his speech at the protest.
The party already held protests outside of the US Embassy in Ankara as well as the Consulate General in Istanbul, demanding the US military bases be shut down, and Crimea recognized as Russian territory.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Armenians found themselves an increasingly persecuted minority within the ailing Ottoman Empire. In 1915, according to several historians, more than 1.5 million Armenians were killed. The events have been recognized as a genocide by the governments and parliaments of over 30 countries. Turkey, which traditionally rejects accusations of genocide, warned the Biden administration that such a move by the US would hurt bilateral relations.
