Turkey on Friday summoned the Dutch charge d'affaires to condemn the vote by lawmakers in the Netherlands to recognise as "genocide" the massacre of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire. The Dutch diplomat was called to the foreign ministry in Ankara, which "condemned" the parliament's vote, a ministry official told AFP.
Thursday's vote saw MPs voting 142 to 3 in favour of the proposal that the parliament refer to the massacre as "the Armenian genocide". Armenians have long sought recognition that some 1.5 million of their people were killed in a genocidal campaign in World War I by Ottoman forces - ordered by Minister of War Enver Pasha and other top officials - to wipe them out in Anatolia.
But Turkey - the Ottoman Empire's successor state - insists similar numbers of Muslims and Armenians were killed in a collective tragedy during the conflict and has always strongly resisted pressure to recognise that any genocide took place. Acting Dutch Foreign Minister Sigrid Kaag quickly tempered the motion, saying even though the ruling four-party coalition voted for the motion, the government will "restrain" itself.
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