Netanyahu Accuses Erdogan of Denying the Armenian Genocide

Jonathan Lis
Ha’aretz
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan traded barbs over the weekend. After Erdogan stated that “Netanyahu earned his place alongside Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin,” the Israeli premier accused Turkey of denying the Armenian holocaust.
The back-and-forth marked a further deterioration in the tone in the diplomatic confrontation between the two countries and an exceptional step by the Israeli prime minister. Previous Israeli governments have been consistently careful not to assign responsibility to Turkey for the Armenian genocide in order not to harm mutual relations.
On Saturday, Erdogan likened the Israeli leadership with Nazi Germany for the second time. “Netanyahu and his government are the Nazis of our time. What they have done in Gaza is akin to the actions of Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin,” he declared in a speech on Saturday. “We’re committed to bring these ‘murderers’ to justice in accordance with international law. In the human conscience, they are already convicted.”
Following Erdogan’s remarks, Netanyahu’s was quick to respond and stated that the Turkish president is a “denier of the Armenian holocaust.” Netanyahu added that, “Israel, which adheres to the laws of war, will not receive moral lessons from Erdogan, who supports murderers and rapists of the terrorist group Hamas, denies the Armenian holocaust, butchered Kurds within his own country and make dissidents and journalists disappear.”
Despite the verbal crossfire, Israeli officials are having a hard time determining whether diplomatic relations have reached a permanent dead-end or the rhetorical class is calculated and reparable. They think that Erdogan is interested in fulfilling a significant role in Gaza after the war ends. U.S. and Israeli officials do not rule out this possibility, and even see advantages in making Turkey a central player on the Gaza front.
A signal of the pragmatic Turkish line regarding Israel could be found on Saturday in the meeting between Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, and his American counterpart, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in Washington.
In his public statement, Fidan refrained from criticizing directly the Israeli military or the Israel’s political leaders. Instead, he focused on calling for increasing humanitarian aid to Gaza. “The dire situation in Gaza requires our urgent attention as the international community to stop the suffering of the innocent people,” Fidan said. Therefore, he added, “we need to work hard together to make sure that we have a cease-fire and we have unhindered humanitarian assistance inside Gaza.”
On September 20, 2023, just two weeks before the deadly Hamas attack in southern Israel, Netanyahu and Erdogan met for the first time. Conciliatory talks between Erdogan and Israeli President Isaac Herzog months earlier, laid the groundwork for the Erdogan-Netanyahu meeting on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
Netanyahu said that relations between the countries were strengthening, against the backdrop of joint efforts to thwart terror attacks in Istanbul. The two agreed to coordinate mutual visits within the coming months.
Fewer than six months after that well-documented handshake, relations are in a tailspin. Turkey has publicly backed Hamas since October 7 and Erdogan has repeatedly excoriated Israel and its motives in Gaza.
Israeli Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz was the first Israeli official to accuse Turkey of being responsible for genocide. Katz wrote on X that, “The president of Turkey, the country that perpetrated the Armenian genocide that thought that the world would shut up, is proud today to submit material to the court in The Hague.”
The foreign minister added that, “We haven’t forgotten the Armenian genocide and the murderous acts against the Kurds.” He then tweeted: “You all are nation destroyers. We defend ourselves from your barbarous comrades.”
Dr. Nimrod Goren, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute in Washington and head of the Mitvim Institute, said that the current confrontation is more bitter than previous ones and requires immediate diplomatic attention by Israel to bridge the differences.
“Netanyahu and Erdogan have a history of disparagement and conciliation, but there hasn’t been a gap like the one between the smiled-filled meeting between them in New York in September and the increasing enmity since October,” Goren told Haaretz.
“Escalatory rhetoric is not a policy and is not a substitute for one. Managing the crisis with Turkey and reducing the harm it is liable to cause to Israeli interests requires diplomatic skill. It’s important to return to Ankara the Israeli diplomats who were recalled from there by Israel when the war erupted. The presence and work of professionals on the ground is more necessary now than ever.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan traded barbs over the weekend. After Erdogan stated that “Netanyahu earned his place alongside Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin,” the Israeli premier accused Turkey of denying the Armenian holocaust.
The back-and-forth marked a further deterioration in the tone in the diplomatic confrontation between the two countries and an exceptional step by the Israeli prime minister. Previous Israeli governments have been consistently careful not to assign responsibility to Turkey for the Armenian genocide in order not to harm mutual relations.
On Saturday, Erdogan likened the Israeli leadership with Nazi Germany for the second time. “Netanyahu and his government are the Nazis of our time. What they have done in Gaza is akin to the actions of Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin,” he declared in a speech on Saturday. “We’re committed to bring these ‘murderers’ to justice in accordance with international law. In the human conscience, they are already convicted.”
Following Erdogan’s remarks, Netanyahu’s was quick to respond and stated that the Turkish president is a “denier of the Armenian holocaust.” Netanyahu added that, “Israel, which adheres to the laws of war, will not receive moral lessons from Erdogan, who supports murderers and rapists of the terrorist group Hamas, denies the Armenian holocaust, butchered Kurds within his own country and make dissidents and journalists disappear.”
Despite the verbal crossfire, Israeli officials are having a hard time determining whether diplomatic relations have reached a permanent dead-end or the rhetorical class is calculated and reparable. They think that Erdogan is interested in fulfilling a significant role in Gaza after the war ends. U.S. and Israeli officials do not rule out this possibility, and even see advantages in making Turkey a central player on the Gaza front.
A signal of the pragmatic Turkish line regarding Israel could be found on Saturday in the meeting between Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, and his American counterpart, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in Washington.
In his public statement, Fidan refrained from criticizing directly the Israeli military or the Israel’s political leaders. Instead, he focused on calling for increasing humanitarian aid to Gaza. “The dire situation in Gaza requires our urgent attention as the international community to stop the suffering of the innocent people,” Fidan said. Therefore, he added, “we need to work hard together to make sure that we have a cease-fire and we have unhindered humanitarian assistance inside Gaza.”
On September 20, 2023, just two weeks before the deadly Hamas attack in southern Israel, Netanyahu and Erdogan met for the first time. Conciliatory talks between Erdogan and Israeli President Isaac Herzog months earlier, laid the groundwork for the Erdogan-Netanyahu meeting on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
Netanyahu said that relations between the countries were strengthening, against the backdrop of joint efforts to thwart terror attacks in Istanbul. The two agreed to coordinate mutual visits within the coming months.
Fewer than six months after that well-documented handshake, relations are in a tailspin. Turkey has publicly backed Hamas since October 7 and Erdogan has repeatedly excoriated Israel and its motives in Gaza.
Israeli Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz was the first Israeli official to accuse Turkey of being responsible for genocide. Katz wrote on X that, “The president of Turkey, the country that perpetrated the Armenian genocide that thought that the world would shut up, is proud today to submit material to the court in The Hague.”
The foreign minister added that, “We haven’t forgotten the Armenian genocide and the murderous acts against the Kurds.” He then tweeted: “You all are nation destroyers. We defend ourselves from your barbarous comrades.”
Dr. Nimrod Goren, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute in Washington and head of the Mitvim Institute, said that the current confrontation is more bitter than previous ones and requires immediate diplomatic attention by Israel to bridge the differences.
“Netanyahu and Erdogan have a history of disparagement and conciliation, but there hasn’t been a gap like the one between the smiled-filled meeting between them in New York in September and the increasing enmity since October,” Goren told Haaretz.
“Escalatory rhetoric is not a policy and is not a substitute for one. Managing the crisis with Turkey and reducing the harm it is liable to cause to Israeli interests requires diplomatic skill. It’s important to return to Ankara the Israeli diplomats who were recalled from there by Israel when the war erupted. The presence and work of professionals on the ground is more necessary now than ever.”