Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has condemned Israel for its recent steps towards officially recognising the Armenian Genocide, arguing the country’s ‘slander’ is an attempt to ‘cover up their barbarity in Gaza’. Erdoğan also falsely claimed Turkey’s ‘history is free from genocide, massacres, oppression, and colonialism’. Meanwhile, pro-government media in Azerbaijan has promoted a convoluted narrative to justify the country’s own condemnation of the Israeli moves, saying it stems from a desire to stand by Ankara rather than a direct rebuke of Israel.
The Israeli government unanimously passed a resolution to recognise the Armenian Genocide in June. While the bill still must be approved by the Israeli Parliament to constitute an official, country-wide recognition, it has provoked outrage in Turkey and a difficult reckoning in Azerbaijan, which is a close ally of Turkey and denies the genocide occurred, but also has a longstanding and wide-ranging relationship with Israel.
For its part, Armenia has had a lukewarm response to the Israeli bill, with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan saying he would refuse to comment on it, instead implying the effort constituted a ‘weaponision’ of the issue.
