Genocide is not an annotation but a legal term, Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said in Canada, clearly making a reference to the Armenian Genocide of 1915-1923.

The Turkish diplomat is in Canada to participate in the Vancouver Foreign Ministers’ Meeting on Security and Stability on Korean Peninsula on Tuesday, January 16.

Cavusoglu told reporters that the Armenian lobby is very active in Canada, Ermenihaber.am reports citing Turkey’s Mynet news agency.

“Turkey and its parliament make no decisions on the history of other peoples, we are against such practice,” Cavusoglu said.

“Historical issues must be addressed by historians. To be able to decide on historical issue, court decisions will also be needed. The word genocide, for instance, is not an annotation, but a legal term.”

Some three dozen countries, hundreds of local government bodies and international organizations have so far recognized the killings of 1.5 million Armenians in the Ottoman Empire as genocide. Turkey denies to this day.