US Acknowledgement of Armenian Genocide Could Cause Retaliation Against Turkish Christians

Photo shows an Armenian leader visiting the site of a massacre that took place during the Armenian Genocide. (Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

Last week, the U.S. formally recognized the killing of 1.5 million Armenians during World War I as a genocide. Twenty-nine other countries have made similar declarations, including France, Germany, and Canada.

The Ottoman Empire, which was based in modern-day Turkey, carried out the massacre. Todd Nettleton of The Voice of the Martyrs USA says, “The U.S. House and the Senate have both passed resolutions in the past, calling it a genocide. But the President had never said that before. So this is a significant change to have our head of state identifying what happened as a genocide. And the Turkish Government, their response was very immediate, and it was very negative.”