YEREVAN, DECEMBER 5, ARMENPRESS. The Israeli President Reuven Rivlin, formerly an outspoken advocate of Israel’s recognition of the Armenian Genocide, decided not to renew his signature on an annual petition calling for Israel to officially recognize the mass killings as genocide. As reports “Armenpress” citing The Times of Israel, the Israeli President’s administration has officially confirmed the information.

Those responsible for the petition were surprised by Rivlin’s change of stance, Israel’s Channel 10 News reported on Thursday night, which was ascribed to the heightened sensitivity of his position since Rivlin was elected president earlier this year. The TV report said Rivlin was apparently concerned not to further harm Israel’s strained relations with Turkey.

Ties have been all-but frozen in recent years, notably as a consequence of the 2010 killings of nine Turkish citizens by Israeli naval commandos who were attacked when they intercepted the Turkish vessel Mavi Marmara as it sought to break Israel’s security blockade of Hamas-run Gaza.

Israel has avoided formally recognizing the Armenian Genocide in the political arena for years, for fear of straining diplomatic ties with Turkey, which was Israel’s closest ally in the Muslim world until the deterioration under the leadership of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, an open supporter of Hamas who has issued a stream of highly critical statements about Israel.

In years past, Rivlin on numerous occasions encouraged Israeli lawmakers to reject the politicized discourse that has dominated the discussion of the issue. “I’m aware of the sensitivity, but I’m not blaming modern-day Turkey,” Rivlin told Knesset members last year, when he was still an MK himself. “The government that committed these acts was overturned by Turkey itself,” he said during a special session on the topic.

“I’m sure Turkey will be an ally. I think a solution needs to be found for this crisis, but it’s unthinkable that the Knesset ignore this tragedy,” Rivlin said. “We demand that people don’t deny the Holocaust, and we can’t ignore the tragedy of another nation,” he said.

During an interview with Israel Army Radio in 2013, Rivlin highlighted the differences between the Holocaust and the murder of the Armenian people. But without blurring those differences, Israel must find a way to “fulfill its moral obligation of remembering wrongs done to others,” he said.

The fact of the Armenian Genocide by the Ottoman government has been documented, recognized, and affirmed in the form of media and eyewitness reports, laws, resolutions, and statements by many states and international organizations. The complete catalogue of all documents categorizing the 1915 wholesale massacre of the Armenian population in Ottoman Empire as a premeditated and thoroughly executed act of genocide, is extensive. Uruguay was the first country to officially recognize the Armenian Genocide in 1965. The massacres of the Armenian people were officially condemned and recognized as genocide in accordance with the international law by France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden, Russia, Poland, Lithuania, Greece, Slovakia, Cyprus, Lebanon, Uruguay, Argentina, Venezuela, Chile, Canada, Vatican and Australia.