Turkey recalled its Ambassador to Vienna after Austrian lawmakers recognized the Armenian Genocide, Today’s Zaman reports.
Earlier todaythe leaders of the country’s six major parties issued a statement declaring that Austria, as a former ally of the Ottoman Empire, had a “duty to recognize and condemn these horrific events as genocide.”
They also called on Turkey to take responsibility for its role in the mass murders.
“It is Turkey’s duty to face the dark and painful chapter of its past and recognize the crimes committed against Armenians under the Ottoman empire as genocide,” the statement said.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry recalled Turkey’s Ambassador to Vienna Mehmet Hasan Göğüş to Ankara for consultations after the Austrian Parliament’s decision.
The recognition comes amidst possibility that Germany might recognize the killings as genocide as well.
A parliamentary motion to label the 1915 mass killings of Ottoman Armenians as “genocide,” is to be debated by German lawmakers this Friday.
