THE HAGUE: The Dutch parliament on Thursday passed a motion recognising as genocide the massacre of as many as 1.5 million Armenians in 1915.

“The motion is accepted,” parliamentary speaker Khadija Arib announced after the lower house voted 142 to 3 in favour of the proposal “that parliament in no uncertain terms speak about the Armenian genocide”.

It also agreed to send a cabinet representative to Yerevan in April for the commemorations of the killings.

The move, passed with the support of all major parties, risks further straining diplomatic relations between The Hague and Ankara, which have been tense since the Dutch barred a Turkish minister from campaigning in the Netherlands last year.

Nearly a dozen other EU countries have passed similar resolutions. Turkey denies that the killings, which took place at the height of World War One, constitute genocide.

Despite Thursday’s vote, acting Foreign Affairs Minister Sigrid Kaag said that the Dutch government would not follow the parliament’s lead.

Kaag says the Cabinet will “continue to exercise restraint” in the politically charged issue.

Historians estimate up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed by Ottoman Turks around the time of World War I, an event viewed by many scholars as the first genocide of the 20th century.

Turkey disputes the description, saying the toll has been inflated and considers those killed victims of a civil war.

Published in Dawn, February 23rd, 2018