Turkey warns Austria over ‘genocide’ condemnation

ANKARA: Austrian lawmakers’ decision to condemn as “genocide” the massacre of Armenians by Ottoman Turks during World War I will have “unfavourable repercussions” on Turkish-Austrian relations, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Thursday.
“The adoption of this declaration will inevitably have unfavourable repercussions on bilateral relations,” he told his Austrian counterpart Sebastian Kurz by telephone, the Turkish foreign ministry said in a statement.
Turkey on Wednesday recalled its ambassador to Austria over the lawmakers’ condemnation.
Earlier on Wednesday, the leaders of Austria’s six major parties issued a statement recognising the killings for the first time as “genocide” and calling on Turkey to take responsibility for its role in the mass murders.
Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their ancestors were killed in a targeted military campaign to eradicate the Armenian people from Anatolia, in what is now eastern Turkey.