February 20, 2002 - 19:22 AMT
ISRAELI FOREIGN MINISTRY REFUSED TO RECOGNIZE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
Israeli Foreign Ministry has answered the note of protest of the Armenian Foreign Ministry. In the response note official Tel-Aviv again refused to recognize the Armenian Genocide. "Israel recognizes the Armenian tragedy, but the events cannot be compared with genocide, although it does not undermine the scope of the tragedy. The tragedy, which took place in 1915-1916 deeply grieves us both as Jews and as Israelis. We know that there were many victims from the Armenian side," - the document says. According to the opinion of the Israeli Foreign Ministry "the problem requires an investigation in detail with wide public participation." The note also says that the relations between Israel and Turkey are rather warm. Let us remind that the statement of the Israeli Foreign Ministry was made in response to the note of protest of the Armenian Foreign Ministry concerning Israeli Ambassador Rivka Koen's statement that it is intolerable to draw parallels between the Armenian Genocide and the Holocaust.