Istanbul, June 8, 2016 (AFP) – Ankara is preparing a “plan of action” against Germany after the vote by the Bundestag of a resolution recognizing the Armenian genocide by the Ottoman Empire, said Wednesday the spokesman Turkish presidency, without further detail.
“Work on the measures to be taken (…) are underway with stakeholders, starting with our Foreign Ministry. They prepare an action plan, “said Ibrahim Kalin at an Ankara press conference broadcast live by the NTV news channel.
“When completed, it will be submitted to our Prime Minister, our President,” said Mr. Kalin, without further detail.
Turkey reacted angrily Thursday after the vote by the lower house of the German Parliament resolution which qualifies as genocide the massacre of hundreds of thousands of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire during the First World War.
Ankara recalled its ambassador from Berlin for “consultations” and Turkish officials had multiplied the indignant declarations, reinforcing concerns about the application of the controversial agreement between the EU and Turkey, supported by Berlin, which has significantly reduced the influx of migrants in Europe.
Traveling in East Africa during the vote of the German Parliament, the President Recep Tayyip Erdogan promised that “measures” would be taken on his return to Turkey, without going into details.
Saturday, the head of the Turkish state has rejected charges of genocide, denouncing “blackmail” his country does “never accept”.
Many historians and more than twenty countries, including France, Italy and Russia, have recognized that there was a genocide. But Turkey says that it was a civil war, coupled with famine in which 300,000 to 500,000 Armenians and as many Turks died.
Stéphane © armenews.com