President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said charges the Ottoman Empire committed genocide against Armenians in World War I were being used as "blackmail" against Turkey, adding Ankara would never accept that a genocide took place.

"The issue here is not the Armenians.... The Armenian issue is used all over the world as a convenient blackmail against Turkey," he said in a televised speech after the German parliament recognised the World War I killings as genocide.

"Our attitude on the Armenian issue is clear from the beginning. We will never accept the accusations of genocide."