Israeli minister reminds Erodgan of Armenian Genocide

July 22, 2014 - 10:08 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - Israel's Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz (Likud party) hit back at Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, after the latter accused Israel of attempting a "systematic genocide" of Palestinian Arabs in Gaza, in his strongest attack yet on the Jewish state over self-defense campaign Operation Protective Edge, according to Israel National News.

In a post on his Facebook page, Katz reminded Erodgan of the Armenian Genocide, when in 1915 more than a million Armenians were murdered by Ottoman troops.

“In 1915 the Turks massacred a million and a half Armenians and he accuses us, who are fighting his friends in the Islamic movement, of genocide? Who wants a relationship with such a person?” wrote Katz.

In his remarks last week, Erdogan said, "We are witnessing this systematic genocide every Ramadan. The Western world remains silent; so does the Islamic world.”

"Because those who lost their lives are Palestinian, you can't hear their voices," he added.

Erdogan has become increasingly vocal over the operation, and threatened to end the normalization process with Israel over "state terrorism."

He has also accused Israel of "lies" because "not enough" Israeli Jews have died in the conflict and has compared Jewish Home MK Ayelet Shaked to Adolf Hitler.

The Armenian Genocide

The Armenian Genocide (1915-23) was the deliberate and systematic destruction of the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire during and just after World War I. It was characterized by massacres and deportations, involving forced marches under conditions designed to lead to the death of the deportees, with the total number of deaths reaching 1.5 million.

The majority of Armenian Diaspora communities were formed by the Genocide survivors.

Present-day Turkey denies the fact of the Armenian Genocide, justifying the atrocities as “deportation to secure Armenians”. Only a few Turkish intellectuals, including Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk and scholar Taner Akcam, speak openly about the necessity to recognize this crime against humanity.

The Armenian Genocide was recognized by Uruguay, Russia, France, Lithuania, Italy, 45 U.S. states, Greece, Cyprus, Lebanon, Argentina, Belgium, Austria, Wales, Switzerland, Canada, Poland, Venezuela, Chile, Bolivia, the Vatican, Luxembourg, Brazil, Germany, the Netherlands, Paraguay, Sweden, Venezuela, Slovakia, Syria, Vatican, as well as the European Parliament and the World Council of Churches.