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Azerbaijan expressed serious concern Monday over Israel's decision to recognize the 1915 events as "genocide," saying the move distorts the historical record and calling on Israel to reconsider.
"The decision by the Israeli government concerning the so-called 'Armenian genocide' is a matter of serious concern," Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
"The distortion of the historical facts surrounding the events of 1915, and the reduction of a complex historical issue to a political decision without a sound legal or scholarly basis, are unacceptable. Such actions do not contribute to reconciliation or mutual understanding. Instead, they deepen existing divisions and undermine efforts to achieve lasting peace and stability in the region," the statement noted.
The ministry urged Israel to reverse course.
"We call on the Israeli government to reconsider this decision," the statement said.
"Azerbaijan remains firmly committed to upholding historical truth, respecting the principles of international law, and promoting lasting peace and stability in the region," the ministry noted.
The Israeli government on Sunday unanimously recognized the 1915 events during World War I as "genocide."
"A historic decision: the Israeli government has unanimously approved Foreign Minister Gideon Saar's proposal to recognise the Armenian genocide," Israel's foreign ministry said.
Türkiye's Presidential Communications Director Burhanettin Duran called the Israeli decision hypocritical.
"For the Israeli administration, which has carried out the most savage massacre of the 21st century by mercilessly slaughtering tens of thousands of innocent civilians without regard for babies, women or the elderly, to dare use historical events as a political weapon is hypocrisy in a single word," Duran wrote on social media.
He said Israel's recognition of the 1915 events as the so-called "genocide" was a futile attempt to cover up its own actions.
"Israel's recognition of the events of 1915 as so-called 'genocide' is a futile expression of its effort to cover up the blood of innocent Palestinians on its hands, the state terror it carries out in the Middle East, and the crimes against humanity it recklessly commits," Duran said.
"It is the greatest irony in human history that those speaking of moral and historical obligations are themselves a structure that today relentlessly bombs hospitals, schools, places of worship and refugee camps, trampling international law underfoot. Those being tried for the crime of genocide at the International Court of Justice have not the slightest right to lecture Türkiye on history or to act as guardians of conscience," he added.
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Türkiye's ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) Deputy Chairman Efkan Ala said the Israeli decision was a deflection tactic by a government facing serious legal jeopardy.
"The decision taken on the events of 1915 by the Israeli administration, comprising Netanyahu, who is being tried for genocide at the International Court of Justice and is subject to an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court, along with his ministers, is an attempt by a power that has lost all legal and humanitarian legitimacy to divert international attention away from its own crimes of genocide," Ala said.
He said the move carried no legal or political weight given the circumstances.
"This step, taken by the perpetrators of inhumane practices that have killed tens of thousands of innocent civilians in Gaza, displaced people from their lands, and been repeatedly condemned by United Nations bodies, is entirely null politically and devoid of validity legally," Ala said.
Ala described the timing as a confession of moral and legal inconsistency.
"For a government confronting one of history's gravest genocide accusations to make unilateral political decisions regarding events from 111 years ago is a clear admission of both moral and legal inconsistency," he said.
"This move by Israel aims to overshadow the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza. This decision by the Netanyahu government is the product of the international isolation and legal desperation created by the crimes committed in Gaza," the ruling party's official noted.
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