Turkey issued a sharp rebuke on Wednesday after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly recognized for the first time the Armenian Genocide during World War 1, rejecting his remarks as politically motivated and historically unfounded.
In a statement quoted by the Anadolu news agency, the Turkish Foreign Ministry accused Netanyahu of attempting “to exploit past tragic events for political reasons,” and added, “Netanyahu, who is on trial for his role in the genocide committed against the Palestinian people, is attempting to cover up the crimes he and his government have committed.”
The statement went further, declaring, “We condemn and reject this statement, which is incompatible with historical and legal facts.”
Burhanettin Duran, head of Turkey’s Communications Directorate, echoed the ministry’s condemnation, describing Netanyahu’s remarks as “blatant hypocrisy.”
Writing on the Turkish social media platform NSosyal, Duran stated, “At a time when thousands of innocent people in Gaza are being subjected to systematic genocide, with children, the elderly, and women dying from bombs and starvation, Netanyahu's statements regarding the events of 1915 are blatant hypocrisy that exploits history and law.”
On Tuesday, speaking on the PBD Podcast hosted by Patrick Bet-David, Netanyahu replied “I just did” when asked why, as Prime Minister of Israel, he has not recognized the Armenian Genocide.
For many years, Israel has refrained from recognizing the Armenian Genocide due to its good relations with Turkey, but those have significantly deteriorated since the start of the war in Gaza.
The Knesset was scheduled to hold a vote on recognizing the World War I mass killings of Armenians by the Ottoman empire as genocide. However, then-Meretz MK Tamar Zandberg, who initiated the motion, said the vote was cancelled because of government opposition.
Armenians have long sought international recognition for the 1915-1917 killings in the Ottoman era as genocide, which they say left some 1.5 million of their people dead.
Turkey -- the Ottoman Empire's successor state -- strongly rejects that the massacres, imprisonment and forced deportation of Armenians from 1915 amounted to a genocide.
Netanyahu’s change of heart on this issue comes as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has increased his verbal attacks on Israel since the start of the war in Gaza on October 7, 2023.
The two countries had been on track to restore strained ties before Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel.
In March, Erdogan blasted Israel and described it as a "terror state" after it launched surprise strikes on terrorist targets in the Gaza Strip.
In June, the Turkish President claimed that Netanyahu’s government represents the most significant threat to Middle East security.