German lawmakers’ planned vote on a resolution that recognises the massacre of Armenians by Ottoman forces as genocide, will test the “friendship” between Berlin and Ankara, Turkey said Thursday, reports.

The resolution “will amount to a real test of the friendship” between the two nations, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said.

“Some nations that we consider friends, when they are experiencing trouble in domestic policy attempt to divert attention from it,” he said at a meeting of his Justice and Development Party (AKP). “This resolution is an example of that.”

He stopped short of threatening Germany with political and economic retaliation, but added “3.5 million Turks live in Germany and actively contribute to the economy.”

German lawmakers are preparing to pass a resolution Thursday that recognises the massacre of Armenians by Ottoman forces as genocide, despite stark warnings from Turkey that the vote could hurt ties.

Put forward by the ruling left-right coalition and the opposition Greens, the resolution entitled “Remembrance and commemoration of the genocide of Armenians and other Christian minorities in 1915 and 1916” also carries the contentious word throughout the text.