Berlin, May 31, 2016 (AFP) – German MPs should adopt on Thursday a resolution recognizing the Armenian genocide, a word that arouses strong criticism of Turkey in a context of already strained relations with Berlin.
The resolution entitled “Remembrance and commemoration of the genocide of Armenians and other Christian minorities there 101 years” is offered by the parliamentary groups of the majority – the conservative CDU / CSU and the SPD – and by the Greens , opposition formation, and has every chance of being adopted.
In this text the AFP was able to consult the Bundestag, the lower house of the German Parliament “deplores the acts committed by the Young Turk government of the time, which led to the almost total annihilation of the Armenians.”
The Bundestag also regrets “the deplorable role of the German Reich which, as the main military ally of the Ottoman Empire (…) did nothing to stop this crime against humanity.”
Last year, to mark the centenary of these events, German President Joachim Gauck was the first to use the term “genocide” to describe the massacres perpetrated by the Ottoman Turks, who made 1.5 million victims between 1915 and 1917.
This first official recognition of the genocide in Germany angered Ankara, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accusing Mr. Gauck “to support claims based on Armenian lies.” The text of the Bundestag new chapter in the genocide recognition process, so logically irritates the Turkish authorities.
Deputy Prime Minister and government spokesman Numan Kurtulmus ruled Monday that Berlin would “be attentive to its relations with Turkey,” especially as Germany has almost 3 million inhabitants of Turkish origin, one of the largest diasporas in the world. This resolution could weigh on German-Turkish relations already mined by various sources of tensions.
President Erdogan particularly threatened not to implement a controversial agreement with the European Union, supported by Berlin, which has significantly reduced the influx of migrants in Europe. Ankara wants a Schengen visa exemption for its citizens without reform its anti-terrorism law as required by the Europeans.
Chancellor Angela Merkel also expressed on May 23 its “concern” after the adoption of a reform exposing dozens of opposition members to prosecution. These disagreements are in addition to a controversy caused by a satirical poem insulting Erdogan, designed by a German comedian, and that polluted the spring of German-Turkish relations.
Turkey finally got that subsequent prosecution for insulting a representative of a foreign State against Jan Böhmermann, the author of the satire describing Erdogan pedophile and bestiality.
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Therefore, the resolution on the Armenian Genocide concerned until some German officials, like Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who finds that Germany has not to interfere in this historic debate.
“I hope the German-Turkish relations will not be affected by this resolution and that we can continue to work well together,” he said last week the daily Tagesspiegel.
Finally, in the community of Kurds in Germany (KGD) “Turkish lobby” – including the Turkish Embassy in Germany and the international branch of the AKP party of Erdogan – has tried to pressure German politicians. Cem Özdemir, chairman of Turkish origin of the German Greens, told public television subject to intimidation and threats on social networks because of its support for the text.
“It’s always the same words: traitor pig Armenian, son of a …, and even Nazi terrorist,” he said. On the side of Yerevan, it is however the good report. “Recognition of the Armenian Genocide is important to prevent other genocides in the future,” said the spokesman of the Armenian Foreign Ministry, Tigran Balayan, told AFP.
#Germany time to Recognize #ArmenianGenocide @Bundestag pic.twitter.com/hHNtZS6Yij
— Wally Sarkeesian (@gagrulenet) May 27, 2016