Austrian lawmakers' decision to condemn as "genocide" the massacre of Armenians by Ottoman Turks during World War I will have "unfavorable repercussions" on Turkish-Austrian relations, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Thursday.

"The adoption of this declaration will inevitably have unfavorable repercussions on bilateral relations," he told his Austrian counterpart Sebastian Kurz by telephone, the Turkish foreign ministry said in a statement.

Austrian lawmakers on Wednesday condemned as "genocide" for the first time the slaughter of Armenians by Ottoman Turks during World War I, ahead of the massacre's 100th anniversary.

"April 24, 1915 marks the beginning of the persecutions, which ended in genocide," said parliament president Doris Bures, before inviting MPs to stand and observe a minute's silence for the victims.

At least nine people lost their lives as a powerful storm barreled through central Europe, causing traffic chaos and leaving thousands without electricity, the authorities said Wednesday.

Seven people perished on Tuesday in Germany, where Storm Niklas strengthened into a hurricane in some areas, packing winds of more than 190 kilometers (120 miles) an hour.

Austria's parliament is expected to pass a bill Wednesday amending laws on Muslim organizations which will ban foreign sources of financing and require imams to be able to speak German.

The text aims to promote what conservative Integration Minister Sebastian Kurz calls an "Islam of European character" by muting the influence of foreign Muslim nations and organizations, and offering Austrian Muslims a mix of increased rights and obligations in practicing their faith in the central European country.

Rakhat Aliyev, an opponent and former son-in-law of Kazakhstan's president, was found dead Tuesday of apparent suicide in an Austrian jail just before he was due to testify in an extortion trial, authorities said.

Aliyev, 52, used strips of gauze bandages to hang himself from a coat hook in the bathroom of his Josefstadt jail cell, which he occupied alone, said Peter Prechtl, head of prison administration. 

A former U.S. congressman visited Iran in December, the first time a current or former American lawmaker was invited to the Islamic republic since its 1979 revolution, he said Monday.

"The Iranians are deeply concerned about respect, the one thing they yearn for is respect," Jim Slattery, 66, said at a presentation at the Atlantic Council think-tank.

The first protest in the Austrian city of Linz by Germany's "anti-Islamization" movement PEGIDA drew just 150 supporters Sunday and was dwarfed by a counter-demo by some 2,000 people, police said.

A planned PEGIDA march through the center of the northern city was abandoned after several hundred counter-demonstrators blocked their way, chanting "Auf Wiedersehen" ("Goodbye"), the Austria Press Agency reported.

Police arrested 54 people after violence broke out as thousands protested against a ball organized by far-right groups and politicians in the Austrian capital of Vienna, local media reports said on Saturday.

Six policemen also suffered minor injuries at the protests that took place on Friday. 

Austria's chancellor threatened Tuesday to withdraw support for a Saudi-financed religious dialogue center unless it condemns the public flogging of a Saudi blogger that has sparked an international outcry.

"An inter-religious dialogue center that remains silent when it is time to speak out clearly for human rights is not worthy of being called a dialogue center. It is a silence center," Werner Faymann told radio station Oe1.

Austrian authorities said Tuesday they have ordered a Saudi-financed school to close due to allegations of anti-Jewish teachings and for failing to give the names of staff.