Germany’s parliament has approved a symbolic resolution recognizing the 1915 massacre of Armenians during the First World War by the Ottoman Empire as a ‘genocide.’ The Turkish government has strongly condemned the resolution which is like to strain its relations with Germany.
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The German motion, which was put forward by Chancellor Angela Merkel’s governing coalition and the opposition Greens, was passed with support from all the parties in the parliament.
The vote in the Bundestag, the lower house of parliament, was almost unanimous, with one lawmaker voting no and another abstaining. “No one should expect that relations will suddenly deteriorate completely because of this decision or similar decisions”, Yildirim told a news conference before a visit to Azerbaijan.
Germany joins almost a dozen other European Union countries that have passed similar resolutions recognizing the Armenian genocide.
Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that “this decision will seriously impact Turkish-German relations” and vowed that recalling the ambassador was only the “first step”.
The parliamentary vote was originally scheduled to take place a year ago to mark the centenary of the genocide, but due to concerns over the fallout with Turkey, Merkel’s allies postponed the move.
“Experts on both the Armenian and Turkish sides will continue to prove that the other side is wrong”, Sofuoglu said. With their vote Thursday, German lawmakers joined colleagues from more than 20 countries, including France and the Vatican, who have labeled the actions genocide-as have most non-Turkish historians. It accepts that many Armenians died in partisan fighting, but denies that the figure is as high as 1.5 million, and says that it did not amount to genocide.
“Comrade stabs us in the back”, “Turkey will not forget” and “Open the gates” are just some of the headlines splashed across Turkey’s newspapers Friday morning, reports Turkish Anadolu Agency.
“At times countries that we consider to be friends come up with these bright ideas to distract attention when they fall into despair with their domestic policy”, he said.
The resolution could also raise tensions with Germany’s roughly 3.5 million-strong Turkish community.
Edward Nalbandian, Armenia’s foreign minister, said the German parliament’s decision was a “valuable contribution” to the “international recognition and condemnation of the Armenian genocide”.
The foreign minister has said he hoped the Bundestag resolution would not derail efforts to reconcile Turkey and Armenia.
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“But German officials say their resolution is long overdue, considering Germany was an Ottoman ally and bears some responsibility for the mass killings”, she says.
