The Dutch Parliament has classified massacres of Armenians in Ottoman Empire as genocide. The parliamentarians voted by a large majority on presentation of government factions: re were 142 votes and only three against. The vote should furr increase tensions between Nerlands and Turkey.

The decision states that Parliament is "clearly committed to Armenian genocide". MEPs also decided to send a government representative on a regular basis to commemorate victims of genocide in Armenia in future. However, it remains open wher Dutch government is making language arrangements its own.

Turkey rejects classification of massacres of up to 1.5 million Armenians in years 1915 to 1917 as genocide. In ir view, it was a civil war between Turks and Armenians, in which both sides had to mourn many deaths. The Armenians, on or hand, speak of a systematic genocide of Ottoman leadership of Young Turks, to which 1.5 million Armenians fell victim.

In June 2016, German Bundestag had classified massacres of Armenians as a genocide. This triggered a serious diplomatic crisis with Turkey.

The relationship between Turkey and Nerlands has been strained since Nerlands last March prevented two Turkish ministers from publicly appearing shortly before Dutch parliamentary elections. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had accused Nerlands and Germany of "Nazi methods" because of bans on appearances.

At beginning of February 2017, Dutch government announced that it would finally withdraw its ambassador from Turkey. As a reason, she said that talks about normalising relations would not have reached agreement. The ambassador had already left country in March 2017.

Date Of Update: 23 February 2018, 12:03