Israel has taken a decision which may worsen its relations with Turkey. Israel’s Cabinet has unanimously approved a resolution officially recognizing the killings of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire during World War I as genocide. However, the approval of the Israeli Parliament is still pending to implement this decision. This decision has come at a time when relations between Israel and Turkey are continuously deteriorating.
Turkey has long been asking the countries of the world not to consider the deaths of Armenians around 1915 as genocide. At the same time, Armenia and many countries say that this was a major genocide in history. According to historians, about 1.5 million Armenians died during the First World War. Most experts consider it the first genocide of the 20th century. But Turkiye says that these people were killed in war and civil conflict, so it cannot be called genocide.
Why was Israel silent for so many years?
Israel maintained silence on this issue for many years because it did not want to anger Turkey. But in the last few years, relations between the two countries have deteriorated significantly after the conflicts related to Gaza, Lebanon and Iran. Now Israel has changed its stance.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said that an attempt has been made to deny the Armenian Genocide and change history. He said that it is never too late to take the right decision. This is our moral and historical duty. He told that 32 countries including America, Syria and Lebanon have already considered this incident as genocide. Now this proposal will be presented in Parliament. There has been no official reaction from Turkey on this decision yet.
Israel accused of genocide in Gaza
Meanwhile, Israel itself is facing international criticism regarding the Gaza war. Many countries including the United Nations and Turkey have accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza. According to the Gaza Health Ministry, more than 73 thousand people have been killed in the war that started after October 7, 2023, of which almost half are women and children.
Recently, independent experts of the United Nations have also repeatedly accused Israel of deliberately targeting children and genocide in Gaza. However, Israel calls these allegations completely wrong. It says that it does not attack civilians and Hamas uses civilians as human shields.
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