President Biden on Saturday recognised the mass killings of Armenians more than a century ago as genocide, signalling a willingness to test an increasingly frayed relationship with Turkey, an important partner within Nato.

“Each year on this day, we remember the lives of all those who died in the Ottoman-era Armenian genocide and recommit ourselves to preventing such an atrocity from ever again occurring,” Biden said in a statement issued on the 106th anniversary of a brutal campaign by the former Ottoman Empire that killed 1.5 million people. “And we remember so that we remain ever vigilant against the corrosive influence of hate in all its forms.”

The declaration by Biden reflected his administration’s commitment to human rights, a pillar of its foreign policy. It is also a break from Biden’s predecessors, who were reluctant to anger a country of strategic importance and were wary of driving its leadership towards American adversaries like Russia or Iran.

The Turkish government, as well as human rights activists and ethnic Armenians, gave a muted response to the news, which leaked days in advance, describing the move as largely symbolic.

New York Times News Service