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Erdogan Dismisses Israel's Armenian Genocide Claim, Calls Israel Terror State

7/3/2026

Summary

Story summary

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan rejected Israel's cabinet vote to recognize the 1915 Armenian massacres as genocide, calling it slander and attributing the deaths to inter-ethnic fighting, disease and famine.
He also condemned Israel's Gaza campaign while recalling Turkey's World War II sheltering of Jewish refugees.
Relations between Turkey and Israel have deteriorated since the Gaza war, with Erdogan labeling Israel a “terror state” and accusing it of genocide in Gaza.

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Story summary

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan rejected Israel's cabinet vote to recognize the 1915 Armenian massacres as genocide, calling it slander and attributing the deaths to inter-ethnic fighting, disease and famine.
He also condemned Israel's Gaza campaign while recalling Turkey's World War II sheltering of Jewish refugees.
Relations between Turkey and Israel have deteriorated since the Gaza war, with Erdogan labeling Israel a “terror state” and accusing it of genocide in Gaza.