Armenian PM offers cold response to Israeli recognition of genocide against his people

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan offered a cold response to Israel’s recent decision to officially recognize the genocide committed against his people by the Ottoman Empire during World War I.

“We believe that not entering into the issue of the weaponization of the Armenian Genocide is in the interests of the Republic of Armenia. Therefore, we do not see any need for a response,” Pashinyan told reporters when asked about the Israeli decision on Monday.

Pashinyan suggested that Israel’s decision was politically motivated, given that Jerusalem has for decades refrained from recognizing the Armenian genocide in order to avoid upsetting ally-turned-foe Turkey.

Israel-Turkey relations deteriorated dramatically since the Hamas-sparked Gaza war, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has taken to regularly likening Israel to the Nazis and accusing the IDF of genocide in Gaza.

Pashinyan’s comments were among the first to come out of Yerevan, which has been largely silent since the Israeli cabinet voted on Sunday to recognize the Armenian genocide. The prime minister’s comments to reporters a day later offered an indication into why that was.

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Erdogan decided to weigh in on Tuesday, dismissing the Israeli cabinet decision that is expected to be approved by the Knesset in the coming days.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan says he will not respond to Israel's recent decision to recognize the Armenian Genocide:

We believe that not entering into the issue of the weaponization of the Armenian Genocide is in the interests of the Republic of Armenia.

Therefore,… pic.twitter.com/8tr6ubCzBf

— Tabz (@TabzLIVE) June 29, 2026

Turkey has fiercely lobbied to prevent countries from officially recognizing the mass deaths of Armenians around 1915 as genocide, even as Armenians have pushed for it.

Historians estimate that up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed by Ottoman Turks around the time of World War I, an event widely viewed by scholars as the first genocide of the 20th century. Turkey denies that the deaths constituted genocide, saying the toll has been inflated and that those killed were victims of civil war and unrest.

“We pay absolutely no attention to the slanders against our country by this criminal network, which has the blood of 73,000 innocent people of Gaza, mostly children and women, on its hands,” Erdogan said in a televised address following a cabinet meeting.

It's never too late to do the right thing.

I thank @IsraeliPM Netanyahu for his support, and the government ministers for their unanimous approval of the resolution I initiated for Israel's recognition of the Armenian Genocide.

Thus, Israel joins 32 countries that have… pic.twitter.com/SHZ5v58U6G

— Gideon Sa'ar | גדעון סער (@gidonsaar) June 28, 2026

“Our history is free from genocide, massacres, oppression and colonialism,” Erdogan said.

Turkey and Armenia have no formal diplomatic ties and their border has been closed since 1993. The countries have been engaged in normalization talks in recent years, however, with special envoys meeting to discuss reopening the border and restoring ties.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded on Tuesday night, telling Erdogan to “calm down” with his increasingly hostile rhetoric against Israel.

Netanyahu on Türkiye:

Erdogan speaks about wanting to destroy Israel and take control of Jerusalem again.

I think he forgot that 400 years of Ottoman rule are over. Today there is a strong State of Israel.

He should calm down. We will not allow anyone to threaten our existence… pic.twitter.com/MgfyxIhaKT

— Clash Report (@clashreport) June 30, 2026

Asked during his Channel 14 interview if recent rhetoric coming out of Turkey concerns him, Netanyahu replied: “Of course it concerns me.”

Netanyahu charged that “what is happening in Turkey is a result of Iran’s decline in power. Iran is the extreme Shiite axis, while Turkey represents the axis of the Muslim Brotherhood — an equally extreme movement.”

“The things Erdogan says about wanting to destroy Israel and wanting to once again rule Jerusalem — I think he has forgotten that the 400 years of Ottoman rule have come to an end. Today, there is a strong state here called Israel. There is the Israel Defense Forces. There are the people of Israel. And there is a government of Israel. And it would be wise for him to calm down,” the prime minister said.

“We will not allow anyone to threaten our existence. We will not allow anyone to threaten our security. And I think we have demonstrated what we are capable of,” he said.

Erdogan and other senior Turkish officials have ramped up threats against Jerusalem recently, with Turkey’s interior minister calling earlier this month for the country to “liberate” Jerusalem. Some Western and Israeli outlets reported that Erdogan called for God to destroy Israel during a prayer service marking the end of Ramadan in March 2025, saying: “May Allah, for the sake of his name… destroy and devastate Zionist Israel.”

Azerbaijan also condemned Israel’s recognition of the Armenian genocide on Monday, calling it a “distortion of the historical facts,” and urging the government to reverse the move.

Azerbaijan, which has fought multiple rounds of conflict with neighboring Armenia, takes the same position as Turkey.

However, unlike Ankara, Baku has maintained close relations with Israel and has been a key regional partner to Jerusalem in recent years. Israel, which is very reliant on Azerbaijani oil, is a major arms supplier to Baku.