Turkey angrily responded Wednesday to an EU parliament resolution calling on Ankara to recognize the 1915 massacre of Armenians as genocide, saying the move stemmed from hostility towards Islam.
In a statement, the Turkish foreign ministry accused European deputies of passing judgment on history and warned that relations with the parliament would suffer.
Meeting in Strasbourg, European deputies also called on Turkey to withdraw its forces from Cyprus and issued a report critical of Ankara on other fronts.
"The report, despite having some right approaches, also contains unfortunate phrases regarding the withdrawal of Turkish troops from Cyprus, the solution of the Kurdish question and the Armenian genocide," the foreign ministry said.
It added that the references stemmed from a "complex" and "feelings of hostility on religious grounds" against Turkey, which has a predominantly Muslim population but a secular system of government.
"It would undoubtedly be more beneficial and appropriate for the European parliament to make constructive observations based on historical facts and take objective decisions rather than passing judgment on a country's history and culture," the statement said.
In the resolution, the European parliament "invited the Turkish government and assembly to increase their support of the Armenian minority, particularly by publicly recognizing the genocide that they suffered," said a document.
The Turkish statement categorically denied that there had ever been any genocide against Armenians by Turks and that such claims were "intentional and baseless."
"The paragraph in the report on the so-called Armenian genocide harms our relations with the European parliament, which need to be developed," it said.
The statement also strongly rejected a call in the report on Ankara to pull its "occupying troops" from Cyprus, who invaded the northern third of the island in response to an Athens-backed coup to unite the island with Greece.
"Turkey carried out the 1974 peace intervention in line with its international rights and obligations arising from its guarantorship of the island," it said.
"The soldiers are stationed on the island to maintain peace and security, and to prevent a repeat of the Greek Cypriot massacres against the Turkish side," it added.
The ministry also underlined that the Cyprus reference was an "unfortunate development" both with regards to Turkey's relations with the European Union and to United Nations-sponsored peace talks between the island's leaders -- ANKARA (AFP)
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