Genocide denier, Ankara Mayor Melih Gökçek. (Photo: DHA)
Ankara Mayor Melih Gökçek on Tuesday asked if the leader of Germany‘s Greens, German-Turkish politician Cem Özdemir, is Armenian due to Özdemir’s remarks calling on Turkey to recognize as genocide the killings of Armenians during the last years of the Ottoman Empire.
“I am asking the deputy of German Greens Party just out of curiosity… Please answer, Cem Özdemir… Are you of Armenian origin?” Gökçek asked in remarks posted on Twitter.
Gökçek then shared a two-minute video about the countries that accuse Turkey of committing genocide and said “Those who blame us for genocide should accept these genocides first.”
The video, apparently a part of a documentary aired on state-run TRT, lists the countries’ previous acts that, the video said, amounted to genocide.
In his recent remarks during an interview with the Armenian Service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Özdemir said Ankara should normalize bilateral relations with Yerevan and open the closed border with its easterly neighbor ahead of the upcoming centennial commemoration of the 1915 events and that Turkey “will eventually recognize the [1915 events as] genocide.”
Gökçek also accused Germany on Wednesday of practicing double standards. He shared an online news portal website link that reports Germany describing as chaos the anti-austerity protests ahead of the inauguration ceremony for the European Central Bank’s new headquarters in Frankfurt. The news portal also claims that Germany supported nationwide Gezi Park protests in Turkey in the summer of 2013 by using the common slogan during the Gezi Park protests, “Do not surrender.”
Gökçek, known for his controversial remarks, claimed in January that Israeli intelligence Mossad is behind the deadly Paris attacks that took place on Jan. 7 and Jan. 9.