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Turkey threatens to recognise Native American genocide over US stance on Armenian genocide

TURKEY’S President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has threatened to recognise the genocide against Native Americans in retaliation for the United States’ resolution on Armenia.

Last week, the US Senate voted in favour of a largely symbolic Bill recognising the Armenian genocide by the Ottomans.

The long-standing ruler of Turkey responded last night by threatening to recognise the killing of Native Americans by European settlers, saying the deaths of millions of indigenous people should also be viewed as genocide.

Speaking on the pro-government A Haber tv station, he said: “We should oppose [the US] by reciprocating such decisions in parliament. And that is what we will do.

“Can we speak about America without mentioning [Native Americans]? It is a shameful moment in US history.”

Democrat Ilhan Omar refused to back the Bill until the deaths of Native Americans and those killed by the transatlantic slave trade were also accepted by Congress.

It is the second time Ms Omar has spoken out against actions against Turkey, previously voting against imposing sanctions on the state for its attacks on Kurdish regions of Syria.

About 1.5 million Armenians were killed by Turkey’s predecessors in the early 20th century, yet all governments since the formation of the Republic of Turkey in 1923 have persistently denied the atrocity.

Turkey has instead claimed that the massacre of Armenians and the deaths of Turks were the consequence of a war, and has insisted the total number killed is actually lower, at hundreds of thousands.

University College London estimates that 55 million indigenous people died in the conquest of the Americas, which began at the end of the 15th century.

On Sunday, President Erdogan also threatened to shut down two bases used by the US military if Washington imposed sanctions on Turkey for buying the S-400 Russian missile system.

One of the bases in Incirlik, southern Turkey, is an airfield that has played a major role in US military operations in the Middle East and has about 50 B-61 gravity nuclear bombs in storage.

The other in Kurecik, south-eastern Turkey, houses a key Nato radar station.

Meanwhile, Turkey continues its modern-day ethnic cleansing operations on Kurdish people in the region through its so-called crackdown on terrorism.

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