(VOVWORLD) - US diplomatic missions in Turkey will be closed for routine services on Monday and Tuesday out of precaution fearing protests and demonstrations following a statement by US President Joe Biden, in which he referred to the 1915 mass killing of ethnic Armenians in Ottoman Turkey as genocide, the US Embassy in Ankara said on Saturday.
“The US Embassy in Ankara, the US Consulate General in Istanbul, the US Consulate in Adana, and the US Consular Agency in Izmir will be closed for routine American Citizen and visa services on Monday, April 26 and Tuesday, April 27,” the Embassy said in a statement.
The Embassy also advised US citizens in need of emergency assistance to contact the closest consular section by phone or email.
The Turkish foreign ministry on Sunday summoned US Ambassador David Satterfield to express its displeasure, noting that Biden's statement does not have a scholarly and legal basis, nor is it supported by any evidence.
A year ago, as a presidential candidate, Joe Biden commemorated the 1.5 million Armenians who died in the final years of the Ottoman Empire, and said he would work hard to recognize these murders as a genocidal crime.
To date, Turkey has only accepted that Armenians living under the Ottoman Empire were killed in clashes with the Ottomans during World War I, but denied that the murders constituted genocide.