Erdogan rejects Israeli move to recognise Armenian genocide

Erdogan rejects Israeli move to recognise Armenian genocide Türkiye's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has dismissed an Israeli proposal to recognise the mass killing of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire during World War I as genocide, turning the accusation back on Israel over its killing of Palestinians in Gaza. Erdogan was responding to a measure approved on Sunday by Israel's cabinet. The proposal still requires parliamentary approval and comes as ties between Israel and Türkiye continue to deteriorate. Türkiye has long lobbied against official recognition of the 1915 mass killings of Armenians as genocide, while Armenians have pushed governments around the world to formally recognise it. Historians estimate that up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed by Ottoman Turks around the time of World War I, an event widely regarded by scholars as the first genocide of the 20th century. Türkiye denies that the killings constituted genocide, saying the death toll has been inflated and that those killed were victims of civil war and unrest.