PRESS RELEASE April 24, 2021
On Armenian Remembrance Day, President Biden issued a statement formally recognizing the genocide of Armenians that began on April 24, 1915.
In response to the Biden administration’s formal recognition of the Armenian genocide, Freedom House issued the following statement:
“We applaud the Biden administration for its recognition of the Armenian genocide, and we hope that official recognition brings some relief to the millions of Armenians around the world whose ancestors were killed and displaced,” said Michael J. Abramowitz, president of Freedom House. “An honest and truthful appraisal of the past allows us to fight against atrocities in the future and is critical for the health of democracy.”
“As we have said before, democracy is upheld by embracing diversity and pluralism, not suppressing it. This is true in Turkey and the South Caucasus just as it is true in the United States. Countries and societies are stronger when they confront their histories of racism, dispossession, and violence, and do not deny them.”
Armenia is rated Partly Free in Freedom in the World 2021, Free in Freedom on the Net 2020, and is categorized as a Semi-Consolidated Authoritarian Regime in Nations in Transit 2020.