ISRAELI CABINET MINISTER URGES FOR ARMENIAN GENOCIDE RECOGNITION
PanARMENIAN.Net
June 14, 2012 - 21:32 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net - An Israeli cabinet minister said that the Jewish
state ought to change its policy and recognize the 1915 mass killings
of Armenians by Ottoman Turks as an act of Genocide, Reuters reported.
Gilad Erdan, a close ally of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu,
answered a motion in parliament by opposition lawmakers marking the
massacre's anniversary.
"I think it is definitely fitting that the Israeli government formally
recognize the Holocaust perpetrated against the Armenian people,"
Erdan, Israel's environmental affairs minister said.
Israel has long avoided acknowledging the mass killings of Armenians
as Genocide, in deference to already strained ties with Turkey which
rejects that view.
Relations with Turkey have been tense since the 2010 killings of nine
Turkish activists in a commando raid on a Gaza-bound ship. Turkey
withdrew its ambassador to Israel after that incident and suspended
military cooperation.
Erdan said the Israeli government had not formally changed its
policy on the Armenian's past tragedy, adding: "we should definitely
support holding an open and in depth discussion that analyses the
data and facts."
From: Baghdasarian
PanARMENIAN.Net
June 14, 2012 - 21:32 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net - An Israeli cabinet minister said that the Jewish
state ought to change its policy and recognize the 1915 mass killings
of Armenians by Ottoman Turks as an act of Genocide, Reuters reported.
Gilad Erdan, a close ally of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu,
answered a motion in parliament by opposition lawmakers marking the
massacre's anniversary.
"I think it is definitely fitting that the Israeli government formally
recognize the Holocaust perpetrated against the Armenian people,"
Erdan, Israel's environmental affairs minister said.
Israel has long avoided acknowledging the mass killings of Armenians
as Genocide, in deference to already strained ties with Turkey which
rejects that view.
Relations with Turkey have been tense since the 2010 killings of nine
Turkish activists in a commando raid on a Gaza-bound ship. Turkey
withdrew its ambassador to Israel after that incident and suspended
military cooperation.
Erdan said the Israeli government had not formally changed its
policy on the Armenian's past tragedy, adding: "we should definitely
support holding an open and in depth discussion that analyses the
data and facts."
From: Baghdasarian