Turkey wants Israel to cancel a planned Knesset discussion on the Armenian genocide.
The chairman of the Turkish Parliament’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Hasan Murat Mercan, has asked the Prime Minister’s Office to to cancel the discussion, Ha’aretz reported.
The Armenian genocide was the main issue raised by Mercan, who headed a parliamentary delegation to Israel this week. Mercan also talked with the Israelis about Iran, the Palestinians and Syria.
“The Armenian issue is very sensitive for Turkey,” the delegation told Yoram Turbowicz and Shalom Turgeman, two senior aides to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. “We would prefer if this discussion would not take place at this time in the Israeli Parliament because it may harm the relations between the two countries.”
Turbowicz said the Israeli government has no interest in hurting its relations with Turkey, “but there are subjects and parliamentary initiatives that are not related to the government.”
