U.S. to recognise Armenian genocide President Joe Biden is expected to formally recognise the massacre of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire during World War One as an act of genocide, a move likely to infuriate Turkey Massacre sites: Symbol size relates to scale of deaths (exact figures not known) Armenian deportation routes Historical extent of Armenian homeland Istanbul Black Sea Ankara TURKEY Mediterranean Sea Sivas SYRIA Erzurum GEORGIA Muş Bitlis IRAQ Deir el-Zor RUSSIA AZERB. IRAN Present-day Armenia 200km 125 miles Hundreds of thousands of Armenians were killed in 1915 by forces of disintegrating Ottoman Empire. Many died in massacres while many others were deported to barren desert regions where they died of starvation or thirst ARMENIAN GENOCIDE DISPUTE Armenia says up to 1.5 million people were killed. Turkey says death toll is inflated and that large numbers of both Armenians and Ottoman Turks died in civil unrest Most non-Turkish scholars and more than 20 countries, including France, Germany, Italy, Russia and Canada, regard events as genocide Turkey rejects genocide term, insisting there was no orchestrated campaign to wipe out Armenians by Ottoman authorities Source: Genocide Museum Picture: Associated Press © GRAPHIC NEWS