\n Azerbaijan on Monday denounced a decision by its ally Israel to recognise the World War I massacres of Armenians as a genocide, a move widely seen as a rebuke by Israel to Turkey.\n<\/p>\n
\n 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.\n<\/p>\n
\n The recognition by Israel -- announced Sunday -- was of \"serious concern\", Azerbaijan's foreign ministry said in a statement.\n<\/p>\n
\n Armenia has long sought international recognition that the mass killings under the Ottoman Empire from 1915 to 1917 amounted to a genocide, saying 1.5 million people died.\n<\/p>\n
\n Turkey strongly denies the accusation of genocide and says that both Armenians and Turks died as a result of World War I. It puts the death toll in the hundreds of thousands.\n<\/p>\n
\n More than two dozen countries, including the United States, France and Germany, recognise the killings as a genocide.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"Such actions do not contribute to reconciliation or mutual understanding,\" Azerbaijan said of Israel's move.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"Instead, they deepen existing divisions and undermine efforts to achieve lasting peace and stability in the region. We call on the Israeli government to reconsider this decision,\" the foreign ministry added.\n<\/p>\n
\n Azerbaijan and Israel cooperate extensively on defence and security measures.\n<\/p>\n
\n 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.\n<\/p>\n
\n But since the war in Gaza erupted, Turkey has regularly accused Israel of committing genocide in the Palestinian territory, an accusation Israel strongly denies.\n<\/p>\n
\n Azerbaijan and Armenia, locked in conflict for decades over the status of Karabakh -- an Azerbaijani exclave ruled for three decades by Armenian separatists -- have started ratcheting down tensions and taken steps towards finalising a comprehensive peace deal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Azerbaijan on Monday denounced a decision by its ally Israel to recognise the World War I massacres of Armenians as a genocide, a move widely seen as a rebuke by Israel to Turkey. Azerbaijan and Israel are allies but Baku's closest foreign partner is Turkey and the Caucasus country hinted the move by Israel could […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[553],"tags":[],"ji_location":[],"class_list":["post-160930","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-feed"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n