Biden letter on 1915 events 'legally unfounded': Senior presidential aide

Washington's ties with Turkey could suffer after US President Joe Biden's recent letter on the events of 1915 that was "disputed, sensitive and historically and legally unfounded," a Turkish academic and senior presidential aide said in an article published on Saturday.

"Turkey's relations with the US have suffered a blow, but the US needs to understand that in a changing world, regional stability cannot be achieved without Turkish cooperation," said Gülnur Aybet, a professor at the Turkish National Defence University, in an article she penned for the UK-based Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security.

Noting that the current issues between Turkey and the US were different from the bilateral tensions that occasionally emerged since the 1960s, Aybet amid the shifting global power balances, Turkey stood as a power capable of altering realities in the field within its region.

She said Turkey's recent success in Libya, Syria, Iraq and Karabakh, a region in Azerbaijan, must be interpreted within the larger framework of global changes.

The US, which expects its allies to remain as they were in a changing world, is disturbed by the situation, she argued, underlining that Turkey's emergence with strong diplomacy in the field and on the negotiating table is a significant development in terms of regional stability.

Aybet went on to say that Turkey was the only country that can cooperate with Russia while also restricting its sphere of influence.

She underlined that tensions with the US on Ankara's acquisition of Russian-made S-400 missile defense systems were Washington's reaction to Moscow's increasing global influence, rather than a technical problem that threatens security, as Washington claims.

Turkey's Defense Industries Presidency has made multiple calls to allay the US' worries on technical issues, she said, adding that for Washington, the problem was a global political-strategical issue rather than a military and technical one.

Aybet further stated that Turkey's relations with Russia were compartmentalized and that the two countries could successfully cooperate "based on realpolitik," despite occasional disagreements.

Turkey's acquisition of the Russian S-400 missile defense systems in 2017 led to the then-Trump administration's decision to expel Ankara from the F-35 joint strike fighter program over concerns that the advanced Russian anti-air system could be used to comprise the jets and are incompatible with NATO systems.

Turkey, however, has denied that the S-400 poses a threat to F-35 aircraft, and has maintained it would not be integrated into NATO networks.

BIDEN'S STATEMENT

Underscoring that relations between Turkey and the US were at a fragile point, Aybet said that by sheltering the ringleader of the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), the group behind the 2016 defeated coup in Turkey, Washington's behavior had led to a serious problem and mistrust in relations.

She pointed out that one of the latest breaking points had been Biden's recognition of the 1915 events as a so-called Armenian "genocide," breaking with long-standing precedent of US presidents.

"Turkey does not deny the suffering of Armenians during the First World War. In fact, President Erdoğan sent a message on 24 April to the Armenian Patriarch of Turkey, the Reverend Sahak Mashalyan, offering his condolences to the families of Ottoman Armenians who were killed during the tragic events of the First World War," she wrote.

"The word 'genocide' denotes a very serious accusation and because of the gravity of the term, it must be fully supported in legal and historical fact," Aybet continued.

She went on to say: "This is not the case in terms of the events of 1915. The term 'genocide' was recognised in the legal framework for the first time in 1948. The UN has not taken up consideration of describing the events of 1915 as 'genocide' because they happened before the term was defined in international law."

Turkey's position on the events of 1915 is that the deaths of Armenians in eastern Anatolia took place when some sided with invading Russians and revolted against Ottoman forces. A subsequent relocation of Armenians resulted in numerous casualties.

Turkey objects to the presentation of these incidents as "genocide," describing them as a tragedy in which both sides suffered casualties.

Ankara has repeatedly proposed the creation of a joint commission of historians from Turkey and Armenia as well as international experts to tackle the issue.

In 2014, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan -- Turkey's then-prime minister and now president -- expressed his condolences to the descendants of Armenians who lost their lives in the events of 1915.