German Chancellor Angela Merkel and President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev attend a news conference following talks at the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany, June 7, 2016. REUTERS/Axel Schmidt
The tension in Armenian-Turkish relations will reduce when the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is resolved.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel noted the abovementioned during her joint news conference, on Tuesday in capital city Berlin, with visiting Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. She stated this while reflecting on the German Bundestag’s passing of the resolution that recognizes Armenian Genocide.
“Efforts were made back in 2005 and 2009, to normalize relations between Armenia and Turkey,” said Merkel.
In the chancellor’s words, Germany will continue to make efforts to review history between Armenia and Turkey.
“We support the setting up of a commission of historians,” she added. “And I have spoken about this with the leaderships of both Armenia and Turkey.”
As for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s recent statement, according to which the blood of the Bundestag’s Turkish MPs that have voted for the aforesaid resolution should be analyzed to check whether they truly are Turks, Angela Merkel noted that they dont understand Turkey’s reaction, these lawmakers are freely elected deputies.
On June 2, the Bundestag, the lower house of the German parliament, formally recognized the Armenian Genocide, with the aforesaid resolution and with only one vote against and one abstention. The resolution also notes that the Bundestag regrets that the German government at the time did nothing to stop this crime against humanity, and therefore the Bundestag also acknowledges the respective historical accountability of Germany.