Turkey's Ministry of Defense Uses 'Genocide' Term in Response to Latvia's Decision, Then Deletes Post

The Turkish Ministry of Defense used the term 'genocide' in a tweet responding to the Latvian Parliament's adoption of a resolution recognizing the Armenian genocide, but deleted the post just a few minutes later. According to Armenpress, this was reported by the Greek City Times, which published a screenshot of the Turkish Ministry of Defense's Twitter post.

"We reject and do not recognize the decision of the Latvian Parliament regarding genocide," the Turkish MoD had tweeted. The Greek City Times notes that this may be one of the first instances where Ankara used the term 'genocide,' which it typically avoids, making it particularly unusual coming from the Ministry of Defense.

It should be noted that Latvia has officially recognized and condemned the Armenian genocide. Tigran Mkrtchyan, Armenia's ambassador to Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia, reported that 58 out of 100 members of the Latvian Parliament supported the resolution.