GREEK REPORTER
Erdogan Fires Back at Israel: “In Our History, There Is No Genocide”
In remarks following a Turkish Cabinet meeting, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey launched a fierce verbal attack against Israel after its official recognition of the Armenian Genocide.
“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,” Erdogan declared, responding to the Israeli government. “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.”
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.”
Erdogan and Israel’s recognition of the Armenian Genocide
In a unanimous vote on Sunday, the cabinet of Israel officially recognized the Armenian genocide, a decision expected to further strain relations with Turkey. While it has accused Israel of genocide in Gaza, Turkey steadfastly denies 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, as 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 thirty 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.
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