Nicosia, Cyprus. The Turkish Cypriot ‘foreign ministry’ on Monday condemned Israel’s decision to recognise the mass displacement and death of 1.5 million ethnic Armenians in the Ottoman Empire in 1915 as a genocide. It said the move was aimed at deflecting attention from Israel’s actions against Palestinians and its policies in the Middle East.
Turkish Cypriot statement
The Turkish Cypriot ‘foreign ministry’ said the decision constituted “a futile attempt to cover up the crimes against humanity committed against the Palestinian people, as well as the state terrorism they perpetrate in the Middle East”.
It said the Israeli government, which it described as currently being before the International Criminal Court for the crime of genocide against Palestinians, was ignoring historical and legal facts and exploiting historical events for its own purposes.
The statement added that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his “collaborators” could not “cover up the crimes against humanity they committed in the eyes of the world”, and said international arrest warrants had been issued in Netanyahu’s name and in the names of other Israeli ministers.
Regional tensions
The Turkish Cypriot ‘foreign ministry’ said the Israeli government was extending what it described as expansionist and provocative policies in the Middle East to the eastern Mediterranean through increasingly deep military and strategic cooperation with the Greek Cypriot administration, and targeting Turkey.
It said the initiative constituted another effort to destabilise the region and added that it “condemns and strongly denounces this political smear campaign targeting our motherland, Turkey”.
The statement said Turkey had taken a principled stance based on international law against the policies of the Netanyahu government and had raised its voice strongly against what it described as grave crimes against humanity committed against the Palestinian people.
It added that the Turkish Cypriot people, “who have been subjected to all kinds of inhumane treatment, including genocide”, would always support Palestinians “in their just cause”, and called on Israel to immediately end the violence it is perpetrating in the Middle East.
Israeli legislature vote
Israel’s legislature passed the decision unanimously on Monday. Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, who was behind the bill, said “it is never too late to do the right thing”.
Sa’ar said Israel was joining 32 countries which had “fulfilled a moral duty by recognising the historical truth, and rejecting attempts to deny it”.