ANKARA — Turkey condemned Israel’s recognition of the Armenian genocide as a politically motivated move aimed at diverting attention from its actions in Gaza, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said on Sunday.
Israel’s cabinet unanimously approved a proposal by Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar on Sunday to formally recognize the mass killings of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire during World War I as genocide. The decision, which requires parliamentary ratification, marks a significant policy shift for Israel, which had long avoided the term partly to preserve relations with Turkey.
“The Israeli government, which has systematically persecuted the Palestinian people before the eyes of the entire world and is being tried at the International Court of Justice on charges of committing genocide against the people of Gaza, is seeking to cover up its own crimes through the political decision it has adopted regarding the events of 1915,” the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Turkey rejects the genocide label for the 1915 events, acknowledging deaths on both sides during wartime clashes but disputing the scale and intent. It maintains that the killings do not constitute a systematic campaign of extermination. Armenians and many historians say Ottoman authorities orchestrated mass deportations and killings that resulted in the deaths of about 1.5 million Armenians between 1915 and 1923.
More than 30 countries, including the United States, France and Germany, have recognized the events as genocide.
Sa’ar described the cabinet decision as a “moral imperative,” stating in a video that “it’s never too late to do the right thing.” He added that the genocide involved the murder of 1.5 million people and the destruction of cultural heritage, and that Israel had a duty as the Jewish state to acknowledge historical truth.
The move comes amid sharply deteriorated ties between Israel and Turkey. Relations, once close, have frayed since the outbreak of the Gaza war following Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has repeatedly accused Israel of genocide in Gaza, a charge Israel denies.
Sa’ar said the recognition was not an act of retaliation against Turkey’s hostility. “The fact that Turkey promotes false narratives against Israel does not grant it immunity from historical truths,” he said.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry said Ankara would continue efforts to counter what it called Israel’s “expansionist and destabilizing policies” in the region.
The Israeli government’s vote reflects a broader rupture. In August 2025, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly recognized the Armenian genocide for the first time, prompting a similar Turkish condemnation at the time.
No immediate further steps from either side were announced following Sunday’s developments.
