Turkey slams Belgium's premier over remark on Armenian 'genocide'
The Turkish government has strongly criticized the Belgian prime minister for recognizing the massacre of Armenians in 1915 as “genocide.”
The Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a Saturday statement that the remarks by Charles Michel in recognizing the massacre of Armenians by Ottoman Turkish forces during World War I as genocide are a distortion of the historical facts.
The ministry said the comments are “neither acceptable nor excusable” and warned Brussels of the detrimental consequences in its ties with Ankara.
Michel announced during a session in parliament on Wednesday that the Armenian incident “must be viewed as a genocide.”
The remarks came after the European Parliament, in April, adopted a resolution to recognize the massacre as genocide.
Turkey recalled its ambassadors in the city-state of Vatican, Austria, Brazil and Luxembourg earlier this year after they also referred to the killing as genocide.
Turkey is on the offensive against the use of the term “genocide.” However, Ankara says it shares the pain of Armenians over the events in which hundreds of thousands of Muslims and Christians were killed on both sides in a wartime tragedy.
Yerevan claims up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed during two years of deportations and massacres by Turks targeting Armenians in 1915 to 1917.
Turkey defends itself by saying the death toll is much less than what the Armenians claim and many died on the Turkish side as well.
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