Turkey condemns Dutch parliament recognition of 1915 Armenian massacre as genocide

Turkey has condemned the Dutch parliament's approval of a motion recognising as genocide the massacre of as many as 1.5 million Armenians in 1915. Turkish foreign ministry said in a written statement that the decision was not legally binding or valid, and noted that the Dutch government had said it would not become the official policy of the Netherlands. 

Armenians have long sought international recognition for the 1915-1917 killings in the Ottoman era as genocide,



which they say left some 1.5 million of their people dead. But Turkey, the Ottoman Empire's successor state argues that it was a collective tragedy in which equal numbers of Turks and Armenians died.

In another sign of Turkish irritation at the Dutch MPs, Ankara reminded the Netherlands of the massacre of some 8,000 Muslim men and boys by Bosnian Serbs during the war at Srebrenica in 1995 where Dutch peacekeepers were stationed.