Alwaght- Turkey summoned on Friday the Dutch envoy after the Netherlands Parliament’s recognized as genocide the alleged massacre of between 800,000 and 1.5 million ethnic Armenians at the hands of Ottoman Empire in 1915.
A second motion called for a high-level Dutch government official to attend Armenia’s genocide remembrance day on April 24.
It was the second time in a week that Erik Weststrate, the Dutch charge d'affaires to Ankara, was summoned. He had also been called to the ministry last week as it became clear Dutch lawmakers planned to move ahead with the recognition.
Turkey "fiercely" condemned the resolution -- which received overwhelming support from Dutch lawmakers, with only three lawmakers voting against it -- saying it has "no legal binding character or validity," the Turkish state-run news agency Anadolu reported.
Turkey accepts many Christian Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire were killed in clashes with Ottoman forces during World War One, but contests the figures and denies the killings were systematically orchestrated and constituted a genocide.
The parliamentary motion, which the Dutch government said would not become official policy, risks further worsening relations already strained over the Netherlands’ barring Turkish ministers from campaigning for a 2017 referendum that gave President Tayyip Erdogan more power.
At least 23 countries, including France and Germany, have passed similar resolutions.
Talks to repair relations between the two countries have broken down and the Netherlands recalled its ambassador on Feb. 5.
