Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan launched a fierce verbal attack against Israel during remarks following a Turkish Cabinet meeting.
“We do not take seriously, even in the slightest, the slanders of a criminal gang that has the blood of 73,000 innocent Gazans—the majority of them women and children—on its hands,” the Turkish president declared, responding to the Israeli government’s recent official recognition of the Armenian Genocide.
“In our history, there is no genocide, no massacre, no oppression, and no colonialism. Throughout our thousands of years of history, there is only justice and compassion. We offer support to all the oppressed, regardless of their religion, origin, or identity,” Erdogan continued.
He added: “Those who slander Turkey and the Turkish nation to cover up their own barbarism in Gaza know this best if they look at their own history. We are a people who conduct politics not in areas of conflict and tension, but around the shared values of humanity.”
Israel’s recognition of the Armenian Genocide
In a unanimous vote on Sunday, the Israeli cabinet officially recognized the Armenian genocide. The decision is expected to further strain relations with Turkey, which has accused Israel of genocide in Gaza while steadfastly denying that the Ottoman Empire’s mass killing of Armenians during World War I fits the definition.
For decades, successive Israeli governments actively avoided formally recognizing the 1915–1917 mass killings of 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Empire as a “genocide.” This hesitation was driven by geopolitics: Israel historically maintained a close, strategic partnership with Turkey and feared that formal recognition would sever diplomatic and trade ties.
Following the vote, Israel joined over 30 other nations in officially recognizing the genocide. Greece, Cyprus, and most EU members recognize the Armenian Genocide, as does the United States. In 2021, Joe Biden became the first sitting US president to officially use the word “genocide” in his Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day address.
Related: Erdogan Threatens Military Action Against Israel
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