Turkey condemns Argentina's "genocide" ruling, Armenian attacks

Turkey on Monday slammed an Argentinean judge's ruling that Turkey committed genocide against Armenians around the time of World War I and decried an increase in attacks by radical Armenian groups on Turkish targets abroad. Ruling on a 2001 lawsuit filed by an ethnic Armenian against Turkey, Judge Norberto Oyarbide wrote on Friday that "the Turkish state committed the crime of genocide against the Armenian people" between 1915 and 1923. In a statement, the Foreign Ministry called the ruling an example of how legal systems are being abused by Armenian diaspora extremists. The statement said Turkey condemns and rejects the ruling, saying it ignored the universal principles of law and international treaties. The statement stressed that the ruling is contrary to the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide and it also is based on accusations that lack seriousness. Such developments only hurt efforts to restore friendship between Turks and Armenians, said the ministry.