The European Parliament has endorsed next week's planned start of European Union membership talks with Turkey.

However, lawmakers on Wednesday also postponed ratifying Turkey's customs accord with the European Union because of Turkey's continued refusal to recognize Cyprus, which gained EU membership last year.

Also, the European Parliament passed a non-binding resolution calling on Turkey to recognize the massacre of hundreds of thousands of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire as a genocide.

Armenia says 1.5 million Armenians were slaughtered by the Turks 90 years ago during the final years of the Ottoman Empire. Turkey says 300,000 Armenians and thousands of Turks were killed during an Armenian uprising.