Turkey on Friday summoned the top Dutch diplomat in Ankara, a day after the Dutch parliament voted to recognise the mass killing of Armenians during World War I as genocide, state-run news agency Anadolu reported.
Turkey “fiercely” condemned the resolution – which received overwhelming support, with only three lawmakers voting against – saying it has “no legal binding character or validity.”
The Dutch government said it would continue to discuss “the question of the Armenian genocide” but was not planning official recognition.
Turkey vehemently rejects any assertion that the killing of up to 1.5 million Armenians at the hands of the Ottoman Empire constitutes genocide.
However, Turkey, the Ottoman Empire’s successor state, accepts that many Armenians were killed during the war.
This is the second time in a week that the top Dutch envoy to Ankara has been summoned.
He was called into the ministry on Feb. 17 too, as it became clear Dutch lawmakers planned to move ahead with the recognition.
Relations between the Netherlands and Turkey are rocky.
The two NATO allies and key trading partners do not have ambassadors posted to each other’s capitals.
