Turkey recalls ambassador to Brazil over Armenian genocide legislation

The Turkish Foreign Ministry said on Monday it had recalled its ambassador to Brazil for consultation, after the Latin American country’s Senate passed legislation recognizing the massacre of Armenians during World War One in Turkey as genocide, Reuters reports. 

The ministry also summoned Brazil’s ambassador to Ankara on June 3 over the matter, it said in an emailed statement.

Muslim Turkey accepts that Christian Armenians died during the upheaval of World War One but rejects declarations or legislation by foreign governments that classify the deaths as genocide.

“We view the decision by the Brazilian Senate that distorts reality and overlooks the law as irresponsible and we condemn it,” the Foreign Ministry said.

Armenians, two dozen countries and most Western scholars consider the killings genocide.