Turkey’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs accused Israel on 28 June of attempting to divert attention and cover up its crimes in Gaza, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet approved a proposal to recognise the Armenian genocide, referring to the deaths of Armenians in 1915 in the Ottoman Empire during the First World War.
“The Israeli government, which has been carrying out systematic persecution against the Palestinian people before the eyes of the entire world and is currently before the International Court of Justice in the case concerning the commission of the crime of genocide against Gazans, seeks to cover up its own crimes through the political decision it has adopted regarding the events of 1915,” said the Turkish Foreign Ministry in an official statement.
“This malicious attempt, which disregards legal and historical facts, exposes the predicament of Netanyahu and his accomplices, for whom arrest warrants have been issued in the context of the investigation conducted by the International Criminal Court into crimes committed against Palestinians. Türkiye will continue to work resolutely for an end to Israel’s expansionist and destabilizing policies in the region and for the Netanyahu government to be held accountable under the law for crimes committed against civilians, particularly the Palestinian people,” concluded the official statement issued from Ankara.
An issue that has strained relations between Turkey and Armenia for years
Turkey maintains that the deaths of thousands of Armenians during the First World War occurred in the context of the war; it asserts that an equal or greater number of Turks and Muslims died during the chaos that led to the fall of the Ottoman Empire; and it rejects the claim that the deaths of thousands of Armenians were the result of a deliberate plan, which would be a necessary condition for the events to be considered genocide. Armenia – and above all the Armenian diaspora – for their part, put the death toll at 1.5 million Armenians during the rule of the so-called Young Turks, and maintain that those events did indeed constitute a deliberate genocide.
Whilst the Armenian diaspora has for years sought international recognition of the Armenian genocide – conversely, the current Armenian Prime Minister Pashinyan has stated that his government no longer considers this a priority – Turkey has repeatedly offered – unsuccessfully – to establish an impartial international commission to examine the historical archives, with both sides committing to accept its conclusions.
The measure has yet to be approved by the Israeli parliament
The Israeli cabinet yesterday unanimously approved the proposal put forward by Israel’s Foreign Minister, Gideon Saar, to recognise the Armenian genocide. The decision is not yet final, as it must still be approved by the parliament (Knesset) before coming into force.
In a statement, the Israeli Foreign Ministry noted that “the Armenian genocide continues to be the subject of an organized campaign of denial and downplaying” which “includes a distorted rewriting of history, primarily carried out by the Turkish government”. Paradoxically, for years the Israeli parliament has systematically refused to recognise the Armenian genocide, arguing that it was a “complex” issue and that it was too “politicised”.
VOTE
EDITORIAL TEAM
🧿 About us
.
Edited and reviewed by:
Pablo Gómez is a specialist in Turkey and has been editor-in-chief of Hispanatolia since 2011. He has been analysing current affairs and geopolitics in Turkey and the surrounding region since 2006.
…
📣 Your ADVERTISING on Hispanatolia
.
🤗 HELP US WITH A DONATION:
💗 Paypal
