Erdogan Dismisses Israeli Proposal as Slander
Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday rejected an Israeli Cabinet measure to designate the World War I-era killings of Armenians as genocide, turning the accusation back on Israel by highlighting the deaths of Palestinians in Gaza. The Israeli proposal, approved Sunday, still requires parliamentary approval and comes amid worsening ties between the two nations.
Turkey's Longstanding Denial of Genocide
Historians estimate that up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed by Ottoman Turks around 1915, an event widely recognized by scholars as the first genocide of the 20th century. Turkey has fiercely lobbied against official recognition, arguing the death toll is inflated and that victims died in civil war and unrest. Erdogan stated, "We pay absolutely no attention to the slanders against our country by this criminal network, which has the blood of 73,000 innocent people of Gaza, mostly children and women, on its hands."
Armenia Avoids Politicizing the Issue
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, whose government is working to normalize ties with Turkey, declined to respond to the Israeli proposal. According to state news agency Armenpress, Pashinyan said, "We see no need to respond because we believe that refraining from entering into the issue of the weaponization of the Armenian Genocide is in the interests of the Republic of Armenia."
Deteriorating Israel-Turkey Relations
Israel and Turkey were once close allies, but relations have soured since Erdogan's rise to power, particularly over his criticism of Israeli policies toward Palestinians. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, who introduced the proposal, said Sunday that the "Armenian Genocide remains to this day the subject of an institutionalized campaign of denial and minimization" by the Turkish government. Saar noted that 32 countries, including the United States, Syria, and Lebanon, have recognized the killings as genocide.
Turkey Accuses Israel of Hypocrisy
On Sunday, Turkey's Foreign Ministry called Israel's move a "politically motivated" step to distract from its actions against Palestinians and from International Court of Justice proceedings over alleged genocide in Gaza. In 2024, Turkey formally joined the case filed by South Africa. Israel, founded after the Holocaust, denies accusations of genocide in Gaza.
