The German parliament has approved a resolution declaring that the mass killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks during World War One was a "genocide," the BBC reported on Thursday.

Turkey is bitterly opposed to the Bundestag (lower house) resolution, and has warned that it could hurt ties.

Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their people died in the atrocities of 1915. Turkey says the toll was much lower and rejects the term "genocide".

The timing is awkward, as the EU needs Turkey to help stem the migrant influx.

More than 20 nations, including France and Russia, as well as Pope Francis, have recognised the 1915 killings as genocide.

Turkey denies that there was a systematic campaign to slaughter Christian Armenians as an ethnic group during WWI. It also points out that many Turkish civilians died in the turmoil during the collapse of the Ottoman Empire.

Source : MENA