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Members of the Turkish-American community gather at Times Square in New York City to protest a social media post by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani regarding the 1915 events during the Ottoman Empire and the Karabakh conflict, on April 26, 2026.
Supported by various Turkish associations, demonstrators expressed their discontent with the mayor's April 24 statement, shared on X, criticizing the post's political nature and calling for a more balanced historical perspective.
Mamdani shared the message on social media to mark the 111th anniversary of the 1915 events, describing them as "genocide" and urging the international community to "act to prevent history from repeating itself."
He also claimed that the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War, during which Azerbaijan regained control of territories internationally recognized as its own after decades of occupation dating back to 1994, marked the next phase of what he described as a continuing process.
Türkiye has long stated that it opened its archives to researchers and proposed establishing a joint historical commission with Armenia to study the 1915 events. Ankara presents this as a basis for a fair, evidence-based assessment, while critics who call the events "genocide" have largely dismissed the proposal.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry had condemned Mamdani over his remarks, stating, "The atmosphere of peace and reconciliation emerging in the South Caucasus is a strong response to those who seek to generate hostility from history."
It stressed that there is a clear stance among parties involved that the issue should not be turned into a political tool, adding that attempts to exploit the debate undermine constructive dialogue.
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