Turkey on Saturday accused the United States of trying to rewrite history, resoundingly rejecting US President Joe Biden’s decision to formally recognise the Armenian genocide.

“Words cannot change or rewrite history,” Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu tweeted moments after Biden announced his decision.

“We will not take lessons from anyone on our history.”

Anadolu, a state news agency reported that the US Ambassador to Turkey, David Satterfield was summoned by the foreign ministry to express the country’s displeasure over Biden’s decision. Further saying that recognition has caused “a wound in relations that is difficult to repair.”

Biden became the first US president to use the word genocide in a customary statement on the anniversary, a day after informing Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that he would go ahead with this step and seeking to limit the expected furor from the NATO ally.

Erdogan has spent his 18 years in power trying to fight the US decision, which has been backed by France, Germany, Canada, Russia and other countries across the world.

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In a message to the Armenian patriarch in Istanbul, Erdogan accused “third parties” of trying to politicise the century-old debate.

“Nobody benefits from the debates — which should be held by historians — being politicised by third parties and becoming an instrument of interference in our country,” Erdogan wrote.

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But on a more conciliatory note, Erdogan said Turkey was “ready to develop our relations with Armenia based on good neighborhood and mutual respect”.

Cavusoglu’s foreign ministry struck a more strident tone.

“We reject and denounce in the strongest terms the statement of the president of the US regarding the events of 1915 made under the pressure of radical Armenian circles and anti-Turkey groups on 24 April,” the foreign ministry said in a separate statement.

“It is clear that the said statement does not have a scholarly and legal basis, nor is it supported by any evidence,” it said.

“With regards to the events of 1915, none of the conditions required for the use of the term ‘genocide’ that is strictly defined in international law are met.”

The Armenians, supported by many historians and scholars, say 1.5 million of their people died in a genocide committed under the Ottoman Empire from 1915 to 1917.

Turkey accepts that both Armenians and Turks died in huge numbers during World War I, but vehemently denies there was a deliberate policy of genocide — a term that had not been legally defined at the time.

Turkey puts the Armenian death toll at around 300,000.