In response to Turkey’s continued calls on Israel to apologize for last year’s flotilla incident, Emanuele Ottolenghi, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, in a piece posted on the leading Israeli newspaper Haaretz Web site on Friday, says that Turkey should acknowledge the Armenian Genocide.

“Turkey continues to practice state-sanctioned genocide denial and prosecutes those who dare challenge it. Isn’t it time, 90-something years after the Ottoman Empire eliminated as many as 1.5 million Armenians that Mr. Erdogan’s ‘mildly Islamist’ party, as The Economist leniently defines it, acknowledges Turkey’s dark past and apologizes on behalf of its country’s crimes?” asks Ottolenghi.

“Not to belabor the point, but the list of things Turkey should apologize for is long. It continues to illegally occupy Northern Cyprus, the territory of a European Union member, after having conquered the land through an act of aggression that ended in ethnic cleansing and illegal settlements. No apology there so far – in fact, Turkey has just threatened to freeze ties with the EU if Cyprus receives the Union’s rotating presidency next year, as it is supposed to. Meanwhile, Mr. Erdogan is directing his gunboat diplomacy threats at Cyprus as well – as if occupation, ethnic cleansing and the creation of a fictitiously independent republic in the northern part of the island were not enough,” adds Ottolenghi.

“Moral of the story: If you behave like a bull, you should not live in a china shop. And if you live in a glass house, think twice before you throw stones at your neighbors. Mr. Erdogan wants an apology? How about starting with one?” concludes the author.

Read the entire Haaretz article here.