Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday called on U.S. President Joe Biden to immediately reverse his declaration that designated the atrocities to Armenians during World War I as "genocide."

"I hope the U.S. President will turn back from this wrong step as soon as possible," Erdogan told reporters in his first comments since Biden's statement.

The Turkish president said U.S. decision would hinder ties and advised the United States to "look in the mirror." But he added that Turkey still sought to establish "good neighborly" ties with Armenia.

Biden on Saturday recognized the mass killing against Armenians more than a century ago as a "genocide."

He is the first U.S. president to use the term "genocide" in describing the 1915 events.

"The U.S. president has made baseless, unjust and untrue remarks about the sad events that took place in our geography over a century ago," Erdogan said after a cabinet meeting. He again called for Turkish and Armenian historians to form a joint commission to investigate the events.

"We believe that these comments in the statement were included due to pressure from radical Armenian groups and anti-Turkish circles. But this situation does not reduce the destructive impact of these comments in bilateral ties," he stated.

The Turkish president slammed the U.S. for having failed to find a solution to the decades-old conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia in Nagorno-Karabakh – where the United States, Russia and France were mediators – and said Washington had stood by as massacres unfolded.

"If you say genocide, then you have to look at yourselves in the mirror and make an evaluation. The Native Americans, I don't even need to mention them. They are all out there," Erdogan said, in reference to the treatment of Native Americans by European settlers. "While all these truths are out there, you cannot pin the genocide accusation on the Turkish people."

(With input from agencies)