Washington, April 26 (TIWN) US President Joe Biden recognised the mass killing against Armenians more than a century ago as a "genocide", a move that could further worsen relations between the United States and Turkey.

US President Joe Biden on Saturday recognized the 1915 killings of Armenians by Ottoman forces as genocide, a watershed moment for descendants of the hundreds of thousands of dead as he defied decades of pressure by Turkey.

Biden became the first US president to use the word genocide in a statement on the anniversary, a day after informing Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan of the decision and seeking to limit the furor from the NATO ally.