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From Our Own Correspondent: US Turkey tensions

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US Turkey tensions

01/05/2021 GMT

BBC World Service - From Our Own Correspondent, US Turkey tensions

Turkey reacts angrily to the US declaration that massacres in 1915 constituted genocide

President Erdogan says the Biden statement on the Armenian genocide would have a ‘devastating’ impact on the US Turkey relationship

Stories from Turkey, Syria, St Vincent and Chile.

Last weekend, the US President, Joe Biden, departed from years of carefully calibrated statements to declare that the mass killings of Armenians in 1915 constituted genocide. The news was celebrated in Armenia and in the diaspora, but met with a firm riposte by Turkey, a NATO military ally. The Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan denounced the statement as “groundless” and harmful to bilateral ties.  The move has brought relations to a new low. Orla Guerin is in Ankara.

Nearly 40 000 foreign fighters travelled to the self-declared Islamic State before it lost its stronghold in Raqqa – taking their wives and children with them. Now, their home countries are navigating the thorny issue of repatriating many of these families. Josh Baker followed the story of one of the women who flew out with her husband to Syria, taking her son, Matthew with her. He heard about their experience with the Islamic State Group and how Matthew survived more than two and a half years there before he and his mother eventually made their escape.

It’s been three weeks since the volcano in St Vincent, La Soufriere, erupted. As much as 15 percent of the population had to be evacuated and remain in temporary accommodation. While fortunately no one lost their lives, the island’s economy is in tatters. Its agriculture has been ruined and the government believes around half its GDP will be lost this year. Our correspondent, Will Grant, reached the red zone immediately around La Soufriere and saw the huge challenge the islanders face in trying to rebuild.

And in Chile, despite having one of the most successful vaccine rollouts in the world, there has been another spike in Coronavirus cases. Experts say that this is proof the vaccine alone can not keep down infection rates. It came as a blow to Chileans who had had that taste of a more normal life. Jane Chambers is in Santiago and found the whole experience could offer a cautionary tale for other countries.

(Image: Protest in Istanbul against US President Biden’s Armenian genocide statement, 26 April 2021. Credit: Reuters/Murad Sezer)

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