Deutsche Presse-Agentur, Germany
Wednesday 6:32 PM EST
Israel to debate recognizing Armenian killing as genocide
DPA POLITICS Israel diplomacy Turkey Israel to debate
recognizing Armenian killing as genocide
Tel Aviv (dpa) – The Israeli parliament voted to bring to a debate
the recognition of the mass killing of Armenians in the Ottoman
Empire during World War I as genocide.
The move comes during a low point in Turkey-Israel relations
following fierce criticism of Israel by Turkish President Reccip
Tayip Erdogan after Israeli soldiers killed dozens of Palestinians
during protests in the Gaza Strip last week.
The petition by Tamar Zandberg, leader of the left-wing Meretz party,
was confirmed by a 16-0 vote.
The parliament will now hold a debate and vote on recognizing the
mass killing as genocide. A date for the debate has not been
announced.
The Israeli government, which has consistently opposed debating the
issue, did not respond to the petition or rally the coalition to vote
against it.
Israel has refrained from voting on the issue in an effort to
maintain relations with Turkey despite widespread support for
recognizing the mass killing as genocide.
Turkey vehemently rejects any assertion that the killing of up to 1.5
million Armenians at the hands of the Ottomans constitutes genocide.
However, Turkey, the Ottoman Empire's successor state, accepts that
many Armenians were killed during the war.
A number of nations around the world, including Germany, France and
the Netherlands, have recognized the killings of Armenians in the
Ottoman Empire as genocide.