US President Joe Biden has told his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan that he intends to recognize the massacre of 1,915 Armenians during the Ottoman rule as genocide.
According to the Dawn newspaper, the US President's statement will further damage the already strained relations between the two NATO allies.
Biden, who took over the presidency in January, has long waited for his Turkish counterpart to reach out to his Turkish counterparts, as he has done with other countries' presidents.
The Turkish president was called by the US president a day before Armenian Memorial Day.
It was hoped that Joe Biden would take a stand against the White House's traditional rhetoric and try to reduce cold relations.
The United States recognizes the events of World War I as the Great Evil.
The White House said in a statement that President Biden held talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan today in which he expressed his interest in constructive relations with the areas of cooperation and effective handling of differences.
The two leaders agreed to meet on the sidelines of a NATO summit in June to discuss their relationship, the statement said.
Turkey acknowledged that many Armenians in the Ottoman Caliphate had been killed in clashes during World War I.
It should be noted that Turkey disagrees on the number of Armenians killed and that they were not systematically or genocide.
A statement from the Turkish Presidency said that Presidents Joe Biden and Tayyip Erdogan had agreed on the "strategic role of bilateral relations and the importance of working together to maximize cooperation on issues of mutual interest".
Relations between Ankara and Washington are strained over Turkey's purchase of a Russian S-400 defense system, and policy differences over human rights and legal issues in Syria.
