The Israeli government on Sunday unanimously recognised the massacres of Armenians during World War I as genocide, a move widely seen as a rebuke to Turkey and a stark signal of the deepening rift between the two countries.
"A historic decision: the Israeli government has unanimously approved Foreign Minister Gideon Saar's proposal to recognise the Armenian genocide," the foreign ministry said in a statement.
The cabinet's decision must still be ratified by parliament.
"The Armenian genocide remains to this day the subject of an institutionalised campaign of denial and minimisation, including a manipulative rewriting of history, mainly by the Turkish government," Saar said at a cabinet meeting, according to a statement issued by his office.
"I think the time has come for Israel, as a Jewish state, to formally accept this position... It is never too late to do the right thing... this is both a moral and historical duty."
Successive Israeli governments had avoided formally recognising the Armenian genocide, in part to preserve relations with Turkey, once one of Israel's closest strategic partners in the region.
But since the war in Gaza erupted, Turkey has regularly accused Israel of committing genocide in the Palestinian territory, an accusation Israel strongly denies.
Critics
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has emerged as one of the fiercest critics of the war, repeatedly comparing Israeli leaders to Nazi officials.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has also hit back at Erdogan, calling him an "anti-semitic dictator who commits genocide against the Kurds".
Turkey has suspended most trade with Israel and become one of Hamas's strongest diplomatic supporters.
"This is not an act of retaliation for the open hostility, along with the terrible rhetoric and the hostile action of Turkey, under Erdogan's leadership, against Israel," Saar said, referring to the recognition.
"The fact that Turkey promotes false narratives against Israel, does not grant it immunity from historical truths."
Azerbaijan on Monday denounced a decision by its ally Israel to recognise the World War I massacres of Armenians as a genocide.
Azerbaijan and Israel are allies but Baku's closest foreign partner is Turkey and the Caucasus country hinted the move by Israel could hit their bilateral relations.
The recognition by Israel was of "serious concern", Azerbaijan's foreign ministry said in a statement.
International recognition
The Armenians seek international recognition that the mass killings of their people under the Ottoman Empire from 1915 to 1917 amounted to genocide.
So far, 32 countries have recognized the genocide, including: the United States (in several resolutions of the House of Representatives and the Senate from 1920 to 2019 and also in President Biden's declaration in 2021), Italy, Argentina, Brazil, Germany, France, Poland, the Czech Republic, Canada, Russia, Greece, Cyprus, the Vatican, and also: Lebanon and Syria.
They say 1.5 million died, but Turkey strongly denies the accusation of genocide and says that both Armenians and Turks died as a result of the First World War.
It puts the death toll in the hundreds of thousands.
Armenia and Turkey have no diplomatic ties, but the two have signalled interest in warming relations in recent years.
(With newswires)
