Turkey , Istanbul in 2015. The verdict of the
Istanbul trials, held by the Ottoman government in 1919–1920, acknowledged the massacre of Armenians as "war crimes", and sentenced the perpetrators to death. However, in 1921, during the resurgence of the
Turkish National Movement, amnesty was given to those found guilty. According to Jason D. Antos, "every other Turkish government" denied the genocide. A major obstacle for wider recognition of the genocide in the world is the official position of Turkey, which rests on the assumption that the deportation of Armenians was a
legitimate state action. According to the Turkish government, the events of 1915 were a "tragedy" that resulted in "the loss of many innocent lives" but they cannot be described as a genocide. In April 2006, the Turkish
Human Rights Association (IHD) recognized the events as a genocide. In December 2008, a group of Turkish intellectuals launched an
online petition – named the "
I Apologize" campaign ('Özür Diliyorum' in Turkish) – for people wanting to apologize in a personal capacity. The writers of the petition used the word "the Great Catastrophe" regarding the events. The petition gained upwards of 10,000 signatures in a matter of days. In the face of a backlash, then Turkish president
Abdullah Gül defended the petition, citing freedom of speech. An opposition group soon launched a website raising an even higher number of signatures.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, at the time
prime minister, denied there was anything to apologize for, but also didn't oppose the campaign and a national debate ensued. Since the "I Apologize" campaign in 2008, every year on April 24, commemoration ceremonies for the genocide are held in several Turkish cities. They started at
Taksim Square in
Istanbul in 2008, mainly as a result of the nationwide discussion that came after the
assassination of Hrant Dink and then spread to
Ankara,
Diyarbakır,
İzmir,
Malatya, and
Mersin in the following years. The commemorations draw increasing support each year. Below are the questions asked and the percentages of the answers given in a 2014 poll for
The Centre for Economics and Foreign Policy Studies (EDAM), a Turkish think-tank: Answers to the poll varied greatly depending on the political party, from 4.6% of
MHP voters who recognize the Armenian genocide to 24.4% of
BDP voters. Excluding "No idea/No response", 51% of
CHP voters and 44% of BDP voters answered that "Turkey should apologize for the Armenians that lost their lives" or "Turkey should express its regret over the Armenians that lost their lives in 1915 but should not apologize". In 2021, his message included: In a 2015 poll for the
Foundation for the Memory of Shoah and
Fondapol, 33% of people between the ages of 16 and 29 living in Turkey surveyed answered in the affirmative to the question: "In your view, can we talk about genocide in relation to the massacre of the Armenians, by the Turks, in 1915?". The genocide has also been recognized by Kurdish political movements including the
Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in its official newspaper in 1982 and the
Kurdish parliament-in-exile in 1997. , genocide denial is supported by all major political parties in Turkey, except the
Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) and the
Green Left Party, as well as many pro- and anti-government media and civil society organizations. Both government and opposition parties have strongly reacted to genocide recognition in other countries. The socialist
Workers' Party of Turkey has expressed opposition against the actions, while not expressly calling it a genocide. On July 18, 2023, the
European Parliament called on Turkey to recognize the Armenian genocide.
Kurdish position Some Kurdish tribes played a role in the genocide, as they were utilized by the Ottoman authorities to carry out the mass killings. Among modern Kurds, including major Kurdish parties like the
Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), and the
Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), most of them acknowledge the killings and apologize in the name of their ancestors who committed atrocities toward Armenians,
Greeks, and
Assyrians in the name of the Ottoman Empire. According to a 2014 poll, 24.4% of Turkish citizens who vote for
BDP (
HDP), which is usually voted by Kurds, accept the Armenian genocide. Excluding those who didn't answer the question in the poll, 44% of BDP voters think that "Turkey should apologize for the Armenians that lost their lives in 1915" or that "Turkey should express its regret over the Armenians that lost their lives in 1915". That the US later changed this position and has since consistently refrained from officially using the term "genocide" about these events can be ascribed to the rise of the Cold War, Turkey's NATO membership and the disappearance of
Raphael Lemkin as a strong human rights advocate from the US State Department. Several official US documents describe the events as genocide. The
United States House of Representatives adopted resolutions commemorating the Armenian genocide in 1975, 1984 and 1996. President
Ronald Reagan also described the events as genocide in his speech on April 22, 1981. On March 4, 2010, the
United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs recognized the massacres of 1915 as genocide. The legislatures of all 50 US states have made individual proclamations recognizing the events of 1915 to 1923 as genocide, with
Alabama in 2019 and
Mississippi in 2022 being the last. House Joint Resolution 148, adopted on April 8, 1975, resolved: After the tenure of Ronald Reagan, later United States Presidents, until Joe Biden, refused to name the events as such because of concerns over alienating Turkey. The
Armenian Assembly of America (AAA) and the
Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA), advocacy organizations representing the views and values of the Armenian American community in the United States, have been urging Congress and the President of the United States to recognize the genocide by Ottoman Turkey in 1915. They have also asked for an increase of economic aid to Armenia. The US House Committee on Foreign Affairs approved
HR 106, a bill that categorized and condemned the Ottoman Empire for the Genocide, on October 10, 2007, by a 27–21 vote. However, some of the support for the bill from both Democrats and Republicans eroded after the
White House warned against the possibility of Turkey restricting
airspace as well as ground-route access for US military and humanitarian efforts in
Iraq in response to the bill. The
Turkish lobby worked intensely to block the bill's passage. On April 24, 2009, he stated as president: "I have consistently stated my own view of what occurred in 1915, and my view of that history has not changed. My interest remains the achievement of a full, frank and just acknowledgment of the facts." On April 24 commemoration speeches, Obama referred only to the Armenian synonym Mets Eghern ("Mec Eġeṙn"). In 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014 2015, and 2016 he did not use the word 'genocide'. In April 2015, Obama sent a Presidential Delegation to Armenia to attend the Centennial Commemoration in
Yerevan.
Susan E. Rice, Obama's
National Security Advisor, encouraged the Foreign Minister
Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu of Turkey to take concrete steps to improve relations with Armenia and to facilitate an open and frank dialogue in Turkey about the atrocities of 1915. On October 29, 2019, the
United States House of Representatives passed a resolution on a 405–11 vote to recognize the Armenian genocide. The
United States Senate passed the resolution through unanimous vote on December 12, 2019, defying President
Donald Trump, who opposed recognition. On April 24, 2020, President Trump issued a statement on
Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day, referring to the events as "one of the worst mass atrocities of the 20th century". On April 24, 2021, on Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day, President
Joe Biden referred to the events as "genocide" in a statement released by the White House, in which the President formally equated the genocide perpetrated against Armenians with atrocities on the scale of those committed in
Nazi-occupied Europe.
The Armenian Weekly referred to Trump's statement as "a shameful reversal of decades of U.S. acknowledgements".
Aram Hamparian, the executive director of the
Armenian National Committee of America, also condemned the statement, writing "Trump's omission is not a diplomatic oversight – but rather a deliberate retreat from truth and a dangerous signal of U.S. tolerance for ongoing anti-Armenian violence." The second Trump administration continues to avoid using the term "genocide," instead continuing to refer to the events as the
Medz Yeghern (
Armenian for 'Great Catastrophe') and labeling April 24 as only "Armenian Remembrance Day."
France , 2015 France has formally recognized the Armenian massacres as genocide. In 2006, the
French Parliament submitted a bill to create a law that would punish any person denying the Armenian genocide with up to five years' imprisonment and a fine. Despite Turkish protests, the
French National Assembly adopted a bill making it a crime to deny that Armenians suffered genocide in 1915 at the hands of the Ottoman Turks. The bill had been criticized as an attempt to garner votes from among the 600,000 ethnic Armenians of France. This criticism has come not only from within Turkey, but also from
Orhan Pamuk. However, the bill was dropped in the summer of 2011 before going to the Senate. Since then, France has urged Turkey to recognize the 1915 massacre as genocide. The
French Senate passed a bill in 2011 that criminalizes denial of acknowledged genocides, which includes both the Holocaust and the Armenian genocide. The bill was submitted by the parliament in 2012. However, the bill was considered unconstitutional on February 28, 2012, by the
French Constitutional Court: "The council rules that by punishing anyone contesting the existence of... crimes that lawmakers themselves recognized or qualified as such, lawmakers committed an unconstitutional attack on freedom of expression". The French Senate adopted a new bill on October 14, 2016, that made the denial of the Armenian genocide a crime. The bill was introduced by the French Government and passed by the French National Assembly in July 2016, and stipulates a penalty of a year in prison or a 45,000 fine. However, the law was put down by the French Constitutional Court in January 2017. The Council said the "ruling causes uncertainty regarding expressions and comments on historical matters. Thereby, this ruling is an unnecessary and disproportionate attack against freedom of speech." On February 5, 2019, French President Emmanuel Macron declared April 24 as Armenian genocide commemoration day in
France.
Mohammad-Ali Jamalzadeh, a prominent Persian writer in the 20th century, studied in Europe where he joined a group of Iranian nationalists in Berlin who were to eventually start a newspaper (Rastakhiz) in Baghdad in 1915. During a trip from Baghdad to Istanbul he witnessed the deportations of Armenians and encountered many Armenian victims and corpses during his journey. The current government of Iran has not officially acknowledged the Armenian genocide, partially due to geopolitical considerations around relations with Turkey. However
Armenia–Iran relations have been largely cordial and Iran is one of Armenia's major trade partners, as Turkey and Azerbaijan have blockaded the country. Some Iranian politicians, such as the
reformist president
Mohammad Khatami, who visited the Armenian genocide memorial in 2004, have paid respect to the victims of the Armenian genocide in the past. When
principlist president
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad visited Armenia in 2007, he did not visit the memorial. When asked about it by a student at Yerevan university, he stated "Tehran's position on historical events is very clear, and we condemn all injustices throughout human history." A few current and former members of the
Iranian parliament have also made statements indicating recognition of the genocide, including
Ali Akbar Mohtashamipour,
Hadi Khamenei, and
Ruhollah Hosseinian, among others. The Iranian
Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism also promptly issued a statement, saying Iran's official position on the Armenian genocide is identical to that of Turkey, which was followed by the Iranian embassy in
Ankara stating the same. In 2015, the
Iranian Armenian community called on
Hassan Rouhani to officially recognize the Armenian genocide, in order to prevent repeat occurrences of such events in the future.
United Kingdom The
devolved legislatures of Scotland and Wales have formally recognized the Armenian genocide. The government of the United Kingdom does not recognize the Armenian genocide, as it considers that the evidence is not clear enough to retrospectively consider "the terrible events that afflicted the Ottoman Armenian population at the beginning of the last century" to be genocide under the 1948 UN convention. The British government states the "massacres were an appalling tragedy" and condemns them, stating that this was the view of the government during that period. in 2007 However, in 2007, the position of the British government was that it condemns the massacres, but "neither this Government nor previous British Governments have judged that the evidence is sufficiently unequivocal to persuade us that these events should be categorised as genocide as defined by the
1948 UN Convention on Genocide, a convention which is, in any event, not retrospective in application." In 2009, the lawyer
Geoffrey Robertson QC revealed in a disclosure of Foreign Office documents entitled
"Was there an Armenian Genocide?", how the British Parliament has routinely been misinformed and misled by ministers who have recited
FCO briefs without questioning their accuracy. As summarized by Robertson, "there was no 'evidence' that had ever been looked at and there had never been a 'judgment' at all." A 1999 Foreign Office briefing for ministers said that the recognition of the Armenian genocide would provide no practical benefit to the UK and goes on to say that
"The current line is the only feasible option" owing to "the importance of our relations (political, strategic and commercial) with Turkey". The Foreign Office documents furthermore include advice from 1995 to the then Conservative foreign minister,
Douglas Hogg, that he should refuse to attend a memorial service for the victims of the genocide. As of 2015, the United Kingdom does not formally recognize the Ottoman Empire's massacres of Armenians as a "genocide".
James Bryce (1838–1922), 1st Viscount Bryce, was one of the first Britons to bring this issue to public attention.
Germany Germany was an ally of the Ottoman Empire in World War I, and many German military officers were complicit in letting the genocide happen, and were also supporting the Ottoman Empire in fear that Armenians would collaborate with Russia at the time; several German figures like
Hans Humann and
Hans von Seeckt also demonstrated support for the Ottomans. These actions were the seeds for the future
Holocaust by
Nazi Germany as many were inspired by the gruesome Armenian genocide. Despite this, many other German officers had also openly disapproved the genocide and were appalled to see it happen. Count
Paul Wolff Metternich was an eyewitness who received numerous messages about the brutal Armenian genocide and deportation, and the Ottomans' determination to exterminate Armenians; his successor
Hans Freiherr von Wangenheim also experienced similar story and documented the genocide.
Max Erwin von Scheubner-Richter, who documented various massacres of Armenians, had sent fifteen reports regarding "deportations and mass killings" to the German chancellery and detailed methods by the Ottoman government to commit atrocities and cover-up attempts by the Ottomans. German writer
Armin T. Wegner had defied state censorship by taking photographs about the Armenian genocide. He later stated: "I venture to claim the right of setting before you these pictures of misery and terror which passed before my eyes during nearly two years, and which will never be obliterated from my mind.". He was eventually arrested by the Germans and recalled to Germany, but his work and open defiance toward the Ottoman censorship had made him a venerated name in Armenia for championing the cause in difficult times. Germany, in 2005, had decided to acknowledge the Armenian genocide for the first time. The solution was later extended in 2016, causing tensions between Germany and Turkey to rise.
Austria Austria-Hungary was an ally of the Ottoman Empire and ignored numerous requests for help from the
Armenian Catholicos in 1915. Reports about the genocide were suppressed by Markgraf Johann von Pallavicini (Austrian ambassador in Istanbul). Austrian newspapers kept silent about the genocide and adopted anti-Armenian stereotypes in their coverage of the defense of Van. The writer
Franz Werfel, in his book
The Forty Days of Musa Dagh, published in 1933, describes the beginning of the genocide from the perspective of the Armenians; it was later banned by the
Nazis. In 2015, the Austrian Parliament recognized and condemned the genocide of Armenian citizens. The Austrian government then called upon the government of Turkey to recognize the events of 1915–1916 as genocide. Turkey responded that they were 'disappointed' and implied Austria was presenting only the Armenian version of events. During the Armenian genocide, China hosted a small number of Armenian refugees, mostly concentrated around
Harbin and
Tianjin, prompting expressions of gratitude from the survivors. Calls for recognition of the genocide in China also gather attention, notably in 2009 when the Turkish government blamed Chinese administration for the Uyghur–Han tensions, and in 2014 when a group of Armenian musicians authorized by Beijing performed classical Armenian musical pieces in commemoration of the centenary of the genocide in China. In 2011, erstwhile Chinese Foreign Minister
Yang Jiechi laid flowers on the Armenian genocide memorial in
Yerevan.
Australia Australia does not view the events at the end of the
Ottoman Empire as a genocide, although it does not deny it happened.
Israel Officially, Israel neither recognizes nor denies the Armenian genocide. This policy stems from a few geopolitical considerations. First, according to
The Times of Israel, "Israel is a small country in a hostile neighborhood that can't afford to antagonize the few friends it has in the region. Even more powerful states refuse to employ the 'genocide' term for fear of alienating Turkey...." Second, Israel shares a "budding friendship" with
Azerbaijan, a "
Shiite Muslim but moderate country bordering Iran" that also strongly opposes recognition. Despite these concerns, many prominent Israeli figures from different sides of the political spectrum have called for recognition. a trip that he made in 2005, including a visit to the
Tsitsernakaberd (the Genocide Memorial in
Yerevan). While doing so he formally recognized the Armenian genocide as a historical fact. A 2007 survey found that more than 70% of Israelis thought that Israel should recognize the genocide, with 44% willing to break off relations with Turkey over the issue. Israel appeared to move closer to officially recognizing the genocide in 2011 when the
Knesset held its first open discussion on the matter. By a unanimous vote of 20–0, the Knesset approved referring the subject to the Education Committee for more extensive deliberation. Israel's
speaker of the Knesset told an Israel-based Armenian action committee that he intended to introduce an annual parliamentary session to mark the genocide. A special parliamentary session held in 2012 to determine if Israel would recognize the Armenian genocide ended inconclusively. Then–Knesset Speaker
Reuven Rivlin and Cabinet Minister
Gilad Erdan were among those supporting formal recognition by the government. The recognition was not approved at that time and in 2015,
Rafael Harpaz, Israel's ambassador to
Azerbaijan, said in an interview that Foreign Minister
Avigdor Lieberman has made it clear that Israel will not recognize the Armenian genocide, given Israel's hopes that its political and economic relationship with Turkey and later Azerbaijan could improve.
MKs who support recognition have acknowledged the negative effect which it could have on
Israel–Azerbaijan and
Israel–Turkey relations. As then Knesset Spokesperson Rivlin said, "Turkey is and will be an ally of Israel. The talks with Turkey are understandable and even necessary from a strategic and diplomatic perspective. But those circumstances cannot justify the Knesset ignoring the tragedy of another people" and
Ayelet Shaked (of the religious-nationalist
Jewish Home party) said: "We must confront our silence and that of the world in the face of such horrors." In 2000, then–education minister
Yossi Sarid, chairman of the dovish
Meretz party, announced plans to place the Armenian genocide on Israel's history curricula. Galon has also paid her respects at local Armenian memorial services. Rivlin, the former
president of Israel, was one of the Knesset's most outspoken proponents of recognition. It was reported in 2014 that due to the sensitivities of Israel's relationship with Turkey, Rivlin was quietly distancing himself from the Israeli campaign to recognize the Armenian genocide and chose not to sign the annual petition, which he had previously done. Still, Israel has taken greater steps toward Armenian genocide recognition under Rivlin's presidency. Rivlin was the first Israeli president to speak at the United Nations on the issue. During the
United Nations Holocaust Memorial on January 28, 2015, President Rivlin spoke about the Armenian tragedy. It was observed that in his speech he used the phrase רצח בני העם הארמני
reẓaḥ bnei haʿam haArmeni, which means "the murder of the members of the Armenian nation," coming close to the Hebrew term for genocide, רצח עם
reẓaḥ ʿam. In addition, 2015 marked the first time that Israel sent a delegation—
Nachman Shai (Zionist Union) and
Anat Berko (Likud)—to
Yerevan for the official memorial event. In an event billed as the first to be held by an Israeli president to commemorate the tragedy, Rivlin also invited Armenian communal and religious leader's to his official residence on April 26, 2015. He said we are "morally obligated to point out the facts, as horrible as they might be, we must not ignore them." As he skirted using the term "genocide," some Armenian leaders were disappointed, though still thankful for the event. On August 1, 2016, the
Knesset Committee on Education, Culture and Sports recognized the Armenian genocide. In response to rising tensions between Turkey and Israel since the 2010s, the Israeli lobbies had refused to assist Turkey and Azerbaijan over the Armenian genocide dispute, which was partially responsible for the recognition of Armenian genocide by the U.S. Congress. In 2024, as tensions with Turkey due to the
Gaza war escalated, senior Israeli officials such as Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister
Israel Katz mentioned the Armenian genocide in public statements criticizing Turkey. In August 2025, Prime Minister Netanyahu said that he personally recognizes the Armenian genocide during an interview with conservative American businessman and podcaster
Patrick Bet-David.
Haaretz noted that his statement does not constitute formal Israeli recognition.
Russia The
Russian Empire had fought in
World War I as part of the Entente and thus it had conflicted with the Ottoman Empire. As such, Russian position toward the Armenian genocide was stemmed from the historical experience, where Russian troops frequently encountered deserted and destroyed villages, remains of Armenians, and mass atrocities committed against Armenian civilians by the Ottoman troops, which was reported by
Mikhail Papadyanov, Russian State Duma representative in
Baku. Russia was obliged to assist the Armenian civilians fleeing from genocide, and Russia had established humanitarian relief groups to deliver needed aids and supports for ethnic Armenians. As for the result of this historical confrontation with the Ottomans, current poor relations between Russia and Turkey with regard to conflict in Syria, and its strong relations with the Armenians from 19th century onward, with Russia acting as a protector to the Christians including Armenians, Russia had acknowledged the Armenian genocide in 1995.
Japan Japan was part of the Entente during World War I, but was not involved in the European front of the conflict as Japanese activities concentrated around China and other Asian territories. However, during the genocide, the Japanese had first reported about it and thus participated in the relief efforts to save the Armenian population. The effort was done by Viscount
Shibusawa Eiichi, who was alarmed by the ongoing massacre of the Armenian population. However, as a result of its eventual role in
World War II,
Japanese war crimes had been widely compared to the Ottoman war crimes; thus Japan has been reluctant to acknowledge the genocide due to fear of political backlash.
Finland and Sweden Finland has not recognized the Armenian genocide while Sweden recognized the genocide in 2010. However, in August 2022 the
Left Youth Organization in Finland urged the
government to recognize the Armenian genocide. In June 2021, Finnish parliamentarian
Päivi Räsänen called on the government to recognize the Armenian genocide. In September 2005, former Finnish president
Tarja Halonen visited
Tsitsernakaberd. In February 2016, Swedish foreign minister
Margot Wallström visited Tsitsernakaberd.
Poland {{multiple image |align=right |caption_align=center |total_width=430 Poland has historically strong relationships with both Armenia and Turkey. Historic Polish-Armenian contacts date back several centuries, with Poland being the home of a historically important
Armenian diaspora dating back to the
Late Middle Ages, which in 2017 was commemorated by the
Senate of Poland, which expressed gratitude for its contribution to Polish culture and history. The predecessor of modern Turkey, the Ottoman Empire, had rejected the
Partitions of Poland, and many Poles had supported the Ottomans against Russia on their quest to regain independence from Russia,
Austria and Germany. Since the 19th century, both Armenia and Turkey were home to Polish refugees and exiles from
partitioned Poland (see
Polonezköy and
Poles in Armenia). Poland, a member of the European Union, supports Turkey to integrate further within the EU, and supports Armenia's efforts for closer cooperation with the EU. Despite this strong Polish–Turkish relationship however, Poland officially recognized the Armenian genocide in 2005. Prominent Polish politicians such as
Lech Wałęsa had urged Turkey to acknowledge the genocide, where he made his speech in Echimadzin about the genocide, calling it "the first genocide of the 20th century", although the claim is incorrect as the
Herero and Nama genocide of 1904–1908, also recognized by Poland, predates it. There are several
khachkars in Poland, commemorating the Armenian genocide, e.g. in
Kraków,
Wrocław,
Łódź,
Gdańsk,
Białystok,
Gliwice and
Elbląg. In
Warsaw, there is also a memorial to
Hasan Mazhar, Turkish governor of Ankara who refused to participate in the Armenian genocide.
Romania and Moldova Regarding
Romania, in 2006, the
President Traian Băsescu was asked if Romania would follow France and other Western states in recognizing the genocide. He then declared "we will not do anything affecting our neutrality in our relations with all the countries of the Black Sea region" and said Romania did not want to risk worsening relations with Turkey. Băsescu said Armenia was complicating Turkey's integration into the European Union by continuously raising the issue in the international community. However, over the next several years, pressure for Romania to recognize the event grew. In 2016,
Cătălin Avramescu, advisor to the then ex-president Băsescu, said "Romania has special duty to recognize Armenian Genocide"; while the Romanian-Armenian politician
Varujan Vosganian, who is president of the
Union of Armenians of Romania, called on the
Romanian Parliament in 2019 to do the same. In one poll, it was found that 72% of the Romanians surveyed were aware of the Armenian genocide. On the other hand,
Moldova has expressed greater tolerance for the possibility, which has even been considered in the
Moldovan Parliament, although this is unlikely due to the good
relations between Moldova and Turkey and the desire not to deteriorate them.
Saudi Arabia Historically, Saudi Arabia had backed Turkey over the Armenian genocide and was one of the few countries in the world to not acknowledge the independence of Armenia; Saudi Arabia also sided with Azerbaijan, the main ally of Turkey, over the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. However, increasing tensions between Saudi Arabia and Turkey have resulted in Saudi Arabia slowly paying attention to the Armenian genocide, with government-run newspapers starting to mention the Armenian genocide, and anti-Turkish boycotts on the rise in the Saudi Kingdom as well. In April 2019, Saudi Arabia supported an American Congressional resolution to recognize the Armenian genocide.
India India has neither officially recognized nor denied the Armenian genocide. However, during World War I,
the country found itself at war against the
Ottoman Empire, the predecessor of Turkey. Many
Armenians sought refuge in India, most notably in
Kolkata. With the
relations between India and Turkey (and
effectively Azerbaijan) worsened since the 2010s, mainly due to Turkey's (and effectively, Azerbaijan's) open support for
Pakistan (especially regarding the
Kashmir conflict), which also shares similar stance (on the genocide) with Turkey and Azerbaijan, there has been growing call for recognition of the genocide in India. For the first time, under the
Premiership of Narendra Modi, the Indian embassy in Armenia has mentioned the genocide and Indian ambassador Kishan Dan Dewal also paid respect to the victims of the genocide in 2021.
Other countries , Cyprus. Cyprus was among the first countries to recognize the genocide.
Azerbaijan, which is in a strategic alliance with Turkey and is in conflict with
Armenia because of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, shares the position of Turkey. During the Communist rule, when Azerbaijan was a part of the USSR, a brief description of the Armenian genocide was placed in the
Azerbaijani Soviet Encyclopedia. Azerbaijan has actively lobbied against genocide recognition in other countries.
Pakistan also supports the position of Turkey regarding the Armenian Genocide, with the Foreign Ministry calling U.S. recognition "one-sided and political".
Denmark believes (2008) that the genocide recognition should be discussed by historians, not politicians. However, on January 26, 2017, the Danish Parliament adopted a resolution regarding the Armenian genocide, which recognizes the "tragic and bloody events that took place in eastern Anatolia in the period 1915–1923". In
Bulgaria, activists first tried to persuade the parliament to acknowledge the genocide in 2008, but the proposal was voted down. Shortly after the decision of the parliament, several of the biggest municipalities in Bulgaria accepted a resolution recognizing the genocide. The resolution was first passed in
Plovdiv followed by
Burgas,
Ruse,
Stara Zagora,
Pazardzhik and others. In 2015, however, the
Bulgarian parliament adopted a declaration recognizing the "mass extermination of the Armenian People in the Ottoman Empire" in the period 1915–1922, but did not use the word "genocide". This might be due to the
blackmailing Turkey did to Burgas, Haskovo and Svilengrad municipalities when they recognized the genocide.
Croatia and
Serbia, two Balkan countries with shared Christian history to Armenia, have been reluctant to recognize the Armenian genocide due to economic relations with Turkey. However, the two countries had fought brutal
Yugoslav Wars, both against and together toward the
Bosniaks, a South Slavic Muslim people with strong Turkish affinity. This resulted in the
Srebrenica massacre of 1995, where Serbian forces massacred 8,372 Bosniaks. Turkey has recognized the Srebrenica massacre and has frequently used it to condemn other countries for "hypocrisies", as it did with the
Netherlands and
Vatican, while Turkey at the same time openly denied the Armenian genocide. Croatia and Serbia have both faced similar pressures from the Turkish government to not allow any official recognition of the Armenian genocide, while at the same time openly lambasting the Srebrenica massacre, which sometimes caused tensions between two Balkan nations to Turkey. In 2001,
Abd al-Qadir Qaddura, speaker of the Syrian Parliament, became the first high-ranking Syrian official to acknowledge the Armenian genocide when he wrote in the Book of Remembrance of the Armenian Genocide Monument and Museum in Yerevan. Although Assad did not use the world genocide, two days after Assad's statement,
Bashar Jaafari, Syria's ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, stated, "How about the Armenian genocide where 1.5 million people were killed?" Deterioration of relations between
Egypt and the
United Arab Emirates to Turkey had led to calls for recognition of Armenian genocide to grow in here as well. The
Emirate of Abu Dhabi also in April 2019 had become the first place in the United Arab Emirates to openly acknowledge the Armenian genocide. == Armenian government ==