Lammert said that the current Turkish government was not responsible for what had happened more than a century ago, but he also urged Turkey to nevertheless reappraise the past.
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Turkey’s new premier Binali Yildirim has said Turkey and Germany were “two very important allies” and the world should not expect their relations to “deteriorate completely”.
The resolution was passed with a huge majority and only one politician voted against it.
Germans with Turkish roots protest before the German Parliament on Wednesday, expressing their opposition to a resolution to recognize as genocide the killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks starting in 1915.
Gregor Gysi of the Left party, who criticized Turkey’s actions towards the Kurds, said that Germany was a historic accomplice and had an obliged to recognize the mass killings of Armenians during the First World War. Turkey reacted by recalling its ambassador in Berlin for consultations and also summoned Germany’s Chargé d’affaires in Ankara.
Turkey’s Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag lambasted Germany over the resolution saying, “first you burn the Jews in ovens and then you come and accuse the Turkish people of genocide”.
Mr Erdogan has already threatened to tear up the migrant deal with the European Union and send hundreds of thousands of asylum-seekers to Europe unless Turkish citizens are granted visa-free travel to the Schengen Area. The resolution, calling for “commemoration of the genocide of Armenian and other Christian minorities in the years 1915 and 1916”, passed with support from all parties in the parliament.
The move comes just hours after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned of “repercussions” from the vote.
“Turkey is not going to accept the decision of the German Parliament on the subject, that even historians can not agree on”.
” ‘But we have also seen that an honest and self-critical appraisal of the past does not endanger relations with other countries, ‘ he said”.
The chair (R) of German Chancellor Angela Merkel remains empty during a session of the Bundestag, lower house of parliament, on June 2, 2016.
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Kurtulmus further noted that the decision was not beneficial for friendly Ankara-Berlin relations, warning that his country “will give an appropriate response to this decision on every level”.
