Step into the void: what will Israel's recognition of the Armenian Genocide lead to?
The Israeli government has adopted a resolution recognizing the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire. It is expected that the issue will now be considered by the country's parliament. Tel Aviv is responding in this way to Turkey, which accuses Israel of war crimes in the Gaza Strip. Details can be found in the Izvestia article.
What happened
The Israeli government has unanimously approved a resolution recognizing the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire. The country's foreign minister, Gideon Saar, then said that "it's never too late to do the right thing." According to him, Israel joins 32 countries that have fulfilled their moral duty by recognizing the historical truth.
The explanatory note to the resolution describes the genocide in detail. It is alleged that ethnic cleansing began on April 24, 1915, with the arrest, deportation and murder of representatives of the Armenian elite in Constantinople. After that, the Ottoman authorities began the systematic extermination of Armenians, which led to the deaths of about 1.5 million people and the destruction of their centuries-old cultural and historical heritage.
It is emphasized that extensive and unambiguous documentation has been accumulated on the topic of genocide, but those events still remain "the object of an organized campaign of denial and downplaying," including manipulative rewriting of history textbooks, primarily by Turkey. It is also noted that it is the moral duty of Jews and the Jewish state to oppose these trends.
It is expected that the document will be submitted to the Knesset in the future. At the same time, experts see two scenarios. On the one hand, Parliament can approve the resolution without passing a special law, as a result of which recognition of the genocide will be a political and diplomatic gesture without serious legal consequences.
On the other hand, it is possible to adopt a separate law on the Armenian Genocide. "In this case, recognition becomes not only a foreign policy position, but also a norm of domestic law. Accordingly, there are obligations for the authorities and a more stable legal effect, which is more difficult to cancel by a subsequent political decision of the government," writes Sergey Melkonyan, a researcher at the Institute of Applied Political Studies.
What are the reasons?
In Israel, the topic of the Armenian Genocide is traditionally raised when the country's relations with Turkey deteriorate sharply. In 2018-2021, for example, the interaction between the two countries was at one of the lowest levels in recent decades. At that time, bills condemning ethnic cleansing were submitted to the Knesset three times. All three times, however, they were rejected due to weak government support.
The crisis in relations between the two countries is now even more widespread due to the fighting that Israel is waging in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon. Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan previously admitted that Turkey could "enter Israel," Interior Minister Mustafa Ciftci called for the "liberation" of Jerusalem, and Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan noted that Tel Aviv "cannot live without an enemy."
In April, a genocide trial also reached its final stage in Turkey. The prosecution has requested a life sentence for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. There are 35 defendants in the case, including Israeli Defense Minister Yisrael Katz, National Security Chief Itamar Ben-Gvir and IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir.
As a response, Israel traditionally raises the issue of the Armenian Genocide. Back in August last year, Netanyahu stated in an interview that he recognized the events of 1915 as ethnic cleansing. Now, during the discussion of the government's resolution, he confirmed that he supports the initiative.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry called the Israeli side's decision politically motivated. "The Israeli government, which systematically persecutes the Palestinian people in front of the eyes of the whole world and has been brought before the International Criminal Court [ICC] for the genocide of the Gazans, seeks to conceal its own crimes," the statement said. Ankara was supported by the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, which also condemned the actions of the Israeli government.
Interestingly, the Armenian authorities have not commented on Israel's initiative in any way. The fact is that two years ago, official Yerevan refused to seek international condemnation of the genocide. Since then, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and his supporters have repeatedly said that it is high time to turn over this page of history.
In particular, at the end of April, when the anniversary of the beginning of the genocide was celebrated, the Armenian leader stated that the events of 1915 were the result of geopolitical intrigues. He noted that it is time for Armenians to stop searching for their homeland outside the internationally recognized territory, that is, to forget about their heritage in Turkey and Karabakh. According to him, attempts to regain what has been lost will lead to the loss of the motherland and statehood.
One of the goals in this case is the reconciliation of Armenia with Turkey. However, there has not been much success in this regard. The special Representatives of the two countries, Ruben Rubinyan and Serdar Kilic, have held a number of meetings since 2022, Nikol Pashinyan also personally communicated with Recep Tayyip Erdogan, but the matter has not reached practical solutions — the borders of the states remain closed, diplomatic relations have not been established.
The Armenian opposition is now gloomily joking that Pashinyan will soon start begging world leaders not to raise the issue of genocide. MP Tigran Abrahamyan emphasizes that Israel has its own motives for making the decision, but this does not negate the final result. "There will probably come a time, if, of course, it has not yet come, when official Yerevan will ask different countries not to make statements about the genocide," he notes.
What the experts say
Kavkaz scholar Artur Ataev calls the Israeli government's decision unexpected, because although the issue of recognizing the Armenian Genocide in this country has long been discussed, it has never been further discussed before.
— The fact is that the Israeli authorities believed that it was the Jewish people who had a kind of monopoly on the topic of genocide. Now, apparently, irritation with Erdogan has reached such an extent that it has been decided to remove this taboo. For the South Caucasus, I think the main consequence will be the deterioration of relations between Israel and Azerbaijan. For a long time, these countries have been closely cooperating, and now a cooling down may occur," the expert warns.
In turn, former member of the Armenian Parliament Arman Abovyan draws attention to the silence of official Yerevan. Nikol Pashinyan and his team are determined to move closer to Turkey, the source reminds the editorial staff, therefore, recognition of the genocide is a problem for them.
— A kind of zugzwang situation has arisen. If you support Israel, then a shout from Ankara will automatically follow. Of course, it is also impossible to condemn, because their own population will not understand. As a result, there is a deafening silence in the information space, which is more eloquent than any statement," he emphasizes.
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