Israel’s Environmental Affairs Minister Gilad Erdan said on Tuesday that the Jewish state ought to change its policy and recognize the 1915 mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks as an act of genocide.

Erdan, a close ally of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, answered a motion in parliament by opposition lawmakers marking the massacre’s anniversary, Jewish Journal writes, referring to Reuters News Agency.

“I think it is definitely fitting that the Israeli government formally recognize the Holocaust perpetrated against the Armenian people,” Erdan stated.

He said the Israeli government had not formally changed its policy on the Armenian’s past tragedy, adding: “we should definitely support holding an open and in depth discussion that analyses the data and facts.”

But Yigal Palmor, a spokesman at Israel’s Foreign Ministry, said Israel’s formal position on the Armenian tragedy remained that the issue “must be decided by historians and not be subject to political deliberation.”