Key facts
- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan rejected Israel's vote to formally recognize the Armenian genocide.
- Erdoğan accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza and denied any Turkish historical genocide.
- The Israeli Cabinet's recognition vote still requires parliamentary approval.
- Turkey attributes the deaths of Armenians during WWI to civil war and unrest, not genocide.
- Relations between Turkey and Israel have significantly deteriorated, especially due to the conflict in Gaza.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has rejected Israel's recent vote to formally recognize the Armenian genocide, accusing the Israeli government of committing genocide in Gaza. The Turkish leader stated that Turkey's history is free from genocide and that Israel's actions in Gaza are an attempt to cover up its own crimes.
The Israeli Cabinet approved the proposal to recognize the Ottoman Empire's actions against Armenians during World War I as genocide, an event widely viewed by scholars as the first genocide of the 20th century. However, the recognition still requires parliamentary approval. Turkey has consistently denied that these events constituted genocide, attributing the deaths to civil war and unrest.
Relations between Turkey and Israel have been deteriorating for years, with Erdoğan being a vocal critic of Israeli policies toward Palestinians. The ongoing conflict in Gaza has further strained diplomatic ties, with Turkey accusing Israel of war crimes and genocide.