Dutch Parliament recognises Armenian genocide, Turkey reminds Srebrenica

The Dutch Parliament has held the extraordinary stage in which it has voted for recognition of the Armenian massacre of World War I, at a time when tensions with Turkey have increased markedly.

Dutch lawmakers who voted in favour were 142 compared to 3 votes against. They also voted to send a cabinet representative to Armenia in April to commemorate the killings, reports “DW” Transmission Periscope.

Armenia has long been seeking international recognition of the genocide for what it estimates to be 1, 5 million deaths in the Ottoman Empire between 1915 and 1917.

As pauses of the Ottoman Empire, Turkey has rejected World War I crimes and attacked countries that have officially recognised the Armenian genocide.

Relations between the two NATO allies have been tense since March 2017, when Turkish politicians were hampered by campaigns in the Netherlands for a referendum extending President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's powers.

Earlier this month, the Netherlands officially withdrew its ambassador from Turkey and said it would not allow a new Turkish ambassador to take a post in The Hague. The move took place in response to Turkey, which did not recognise the Dutch ambassador as part of the consequences of the dispute over the referendum campaign.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry “condemned the Dutch Parliament's” decision, saying a country that was present during the Bosnian Muslim Srebrenica massacre had no place to issue decisions./Periscopi/