ANKARA (AFP)—Turkey on Thursday recalled its ambassador to Luxembourg for consultations after the parliament in the EU member state recognized the Armenian Genocide, Agence France-Presse reports.
The recall of the envoy is the latest such move by Ankara after it withdrew its ambassadors to the Vatican and Austria over their decisions to call the Armenian Genocide by name last month.
“We condemn and strongly reject the unfair resolution the Luxembourg parliament has adopted by distorting the historical facts and the law,” the Turkish foreign ministry said in a statement.
It said it had summoned the Luxembourg ambassador to Ankara to protest the resolution, which it said was “far from understanding” the role of parliaments in such issues.
Meanwhile, Turkey’s ambassador to Luxembourg Levent Sahinkaya “has been recalled to Ankara for consultations,” it added.
Turkey had been on a diplomatic offensive in the weeks leading up to the 100th anniversary of the start of the killings of April 24 to ensure minimum recognitions by parliaments.
It was infuriated by the use of the word genocide by Pope Francis and the resolution by the parliament of Austria as well as the European Parliament.
However U.S. President Barack Obama stopped short of using the word genocide when he addressed the issue, to the relief of Turkey.
Luxembourg members of parliament unanimously passed the motion to recognize the genocide Wednesday.
Luxembourger lawmakers called on Turkey to face its past and recognize the systematic massacre and deportation of Armenians from their homelands as a genocide. The parliament, in passing the resolution, said it is “joining in the commemoration of the centenary of the Armenian genocide in the spirit of European solidarity and justice.”