Turkey’s Foreign Ministry (MFA) lashed out at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday over his remarks acknowledging the Armenian Genocide, denouncing them as an attempt to cover up Israel’s Genocidal actions in Gaza.
In an official statement titled “Regarding Netanyahu’s Remarks About the Events of 1915,” Ankara declared: “Netanyahu’s remarks about the events of 1915 is an attempt to exploit the tragedies in the past for political purposes. Currently on trial for his role in the genocide committed against the Palestinian people, Netanyahu is seeking to cover up the crimes perpetrated by himself and his government. We condemn and reject these remarks which are contrary to the historical and legal facts.”
The remarks came a day after Netanyahu, during an interview on Iranian-born presenter of Armenian and Assyrian origins Patrick Bet-David’s Valuetainment podcast, was directly asked why Israel has not officially recognized the Armenian, Assyrian, and Greek genocides carried out by the Ottoman Empire.Netanyahu claimed Israel had already recognized the Armenian Genocide through a Knesset resolution, a claim that is factually incorrect, as no such resolution has ever been passed. He then personally affirmed recognition himself, marking the first time Netanyahu has done so on record.
The Armenian genocide, perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire during World War I, claimed the lives of an estimated one and a half million Armenians between 1915 and 1923.
Armenia has long sought international recognition of these atrocities as genocide, a campaign that has gained growing global support. As of 2025, 34 countries, including the United States, France, and Germany, have officially recognized it.
Israel has historically avoided officially recognizing the Armenian genocide, partly due to its complex ties with Turkey.
Every year since 1989 till its dissolution, Meretz, a left-wing political party in Israel, had sought recognition of the century-old mass killings of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire as a genocide. However, each year the initiative has been blocked by sitting governments, largely because of Israel’s diplomatic relations with Turkey.
Resolutions recognizing the Armenian Genocide failed to be adopted in 2007 and 2011.
The latest failure came in 2018, when Israel’s Parliament rejected the bill “after a first-ever debate on the sensitive issue held on the Israeli Parliament floor.”
Israel’s ex-president, Reuven Rivlin, was an outspoken advocate for recognition during his tenure as Parliamentary Speaker, according to Times of Israel.
However, as president, in a 2015 UN address on the centenary of the Armenian Genocide, Rivlin refrained from using the word “genocide.”
Previously, when relations with Turkey were at an apex in 2001, then-Foreign Minister Shimon Peres outright denied “Armenian allegations,” denouncing them as an effort to create a parallel with the Holocaust, the Times of Israel noted.
The recognition of the Armenian Genocide has remained highly politicized in Israel, with some arguing that recognition could diminish the status of the Holocaust as a historically unique genocide.
Various Armenian circles reacted to Netanyahu’s statement, with opinions ranging from cautious optimism to criticism, reflecting concerns over Israel’s close military ties with Azerbaijan and its role in regional conflicts affecting Armenia.
Aram Hamparian, Executive Director of the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA), one of the most influential Armenian diaspora organizations, offered a more nuanced perspective. He noted that “Netanyahu’s tack toward long?withheld Israeli recognition of the Armenian Genocide, in the wake of its arming of Azerbaijan’s blockade and genocide of Artsakh’s Armenian Christians and amid ongoing threats to Jerusalem’s Armenian Christian Quarter and serious and sustained violations of international law in Gaza, akin to Azerbaijan’s ethnic cleansing of Artsakh, must, if it is to represent more than an attempt at tactical cover for its transgressions, be followed by a sharp break with Israel’s military alliance with Azerbaijan and public pressure on Turkey to abandon its denial and obstruction of justice for the Armenian Genocide.”
Netanyahu’s statement on Tuesday came amid heightened diplomatic tensions between Israel and Turkey over the war in Gaza.
Earlier, in March 2024, Netanyahu warned Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an over the latter’s criticism of Israeli conduct in the war, saying: “Israel, which adheres to the laws of war, will not accept moral sermons from Erdo?an, who supports the murderers and rapists of the Hamas terrorist organisation, denies the Armenian Genocide, massacres Kurds within his own country, and exiles dissidents and journalists.”
The President of Turkey went on to compare the Israeli government to the Nazis on more than one occasion, and personally likened Netanyahu to historical tyrants.
Erdo?an also reaffirmed his support for Hamas in 2024, stating that no one could “force” Turkey to designate it as a “terrorist organization.”
