Jerusalem, Jan 12 (EFE).- Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz on Friday criticized Turkey’s history, saying “we remember the Armenians,” after its president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, announced that his country would send documents to the International Court of Justice in The Hague that support the charge of genocide brought by South Africa against Israel.
“The President of Turkey Erdogan, from a country with the Armenian genocide in its past, now boasts of targeting Israel with unfounded claims. We remember the Armenians, the Kurds. Your history speaks for itself. Israel stands in defense, not destruction, against your barbarian allies,” Katz said in a message directed at the Turkish leader on the social network X (formerly Twitter).
The Armenian genocide refers to the systematic extermination of the Armenian people in the Ottoman Empire during World War I through massacres, death marches, and deportations.
The Turkish government maintains that the deportation of Armenians was a legitimate action that cannot be called genocide, and many countries seeking good diplomatic relations with Turkey have avoided acknowledging the events as genocide.
Israel does not recognize the events as genocide, and this is the first time a senior Israeli official has described the events as such.
Israel has been accused of genocide by South Africa before the UN’s top court, which held its first hearing in The Hague on Thursday and Friday, with the Israeli legal team accusing South Africa of “hypocrisy.”
Katz said South Africa is violating the Genocide Convention by supporting “the Hamas terrorist organization, which calls for the elimination of the State of Israel”.
Turkey has expressed “satisfaction” with South Africa’s complaint from the outset, and a Turkish parliamentary delegation is in The Hague to follow the trial.
“I believe that Israel will be convicted there. We believe in the justice of the International Court of Justice,” the Turkish president said.
Turkey is a historic ally of Israel, but after the Oct. 7 attack by the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, Erdogan denounced Israel’s response of massive bombardment of Gaza as a “war crime,” and Israel withdrew its ambassador from Ankara at the end of October. EFE
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