French Minister of State: I’m happy for Bundestag voting on Armenian Genocide

June 3, 2016 By administrator

minister genocide I’m happy for the Bundestag voting on the Armenian Genocide recognition, Minister of State for European Affairs of France Harlem Désir wrote on his Twitter page.

France continues to struggle for the international recognition of the Armenian Genocide, he noted.

The Bundestag, the lower house of the German parliament, on Thursday 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.

U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce applauded yesterday’s vote by the German Bundestag

June 3, 2016 By administrator

Ed Royce: Germany’s vote to recognize Armenian Genocide is a major event

U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce applauded yesterday’s vote by the German Bundestag to recognize the Armenian Genocide, during which 1.5 million innocent lives were taken, the Armeian Assembly of America reported.

“Germany’s vote to recognize the Armenian Genocide is a major event. Acknowledging this dark moment in history is a victory for human rights. The annihilation of millions of Armenians was genocide. Period. And the 1.5 million innocent men, women, and children whose lives were taken deserve recognition,” he said.

German Bundestag set to approve Armenian Genocide resolution

May 31, 2016 By administrator

213591 Co-chairman of the German political party Alliance ’90/The Greens Cem Ozdemir –who is of Turkish descent – said that the Bundestag memberswill on June 2 approve a resolution on the recognition of the Armenian Genocide, Ermenihaber.am reports citing Zaman newspaper.

On June 2, the Bundestag intends to approve a resolution condemning the century-old Ottoman massacre of Armenians by describing it as genocide. The majority of foreign policy specialists from the relevant parties have given a clear signal that they will support the resolution.

Ozdmir slammed Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s proposal of creating a panel of historians for studying the issue as pointless.

According to him, Turkey must clarify its prioroties in the framework of the Armenian Question, adding that the Muslim country made a mistake by first signing the Zurich Protocols and later backing from them.

The Zurich Protocols constituted an agreement signed in 2009 between Armenia and Turkey designed to allow the opening of borders and to set up formal diplomatic relations between the two countries.

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW OF A NAM EMC OZDEMIR “The bundestag will recognize the genocide”

May 30, 2016 By administrator

In this exclusive interview with News Armenia Magazine and published in its June issue, Cem Ozdemir, Turkish co-chair of the German Greens, explains why the Bundestag will recognize the Armenian Genocide June 2 It reviews the history of this long struggle, he is involved, and explains the meaning of his commitment.
News of Armenia Magazine: On June 2, a discussion of Armenian Genocide recognition will take place (…)

Pictured: Cem Özdemir, Green member of the Bundestag and co-chair of the Alliance 90 / The Greens, Norbert Lammert, President of the Bundestag, Selahattin Demirtaş co-chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party and chairman of the parliamentary group of the party at the Great national assembly of Turkey

Photographer: Achim Melde

Armenia President briefs Bundestag Vice President on situation in Karabakh conflict zone

May 25, 2016 By administrator

400-17576 YEREVAN. – President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan met with Vice President of Bundestag Edelgard Bulmahn Wednesday.

The Armenian President recalled with warmth his visit to Germany on April 5-7, as well as the meetings with the country’s leadership.

Sargsyan underscored the importance of holding high level visits, including the current visit of Ms Bulmahn, in terms of strengthening the bilateral ties. He also attached importance to the role of the inter-parliamentary cooperation in the development of interstate ties. Apart from this, the President highly appreciated the financial and technical support provided by Germany.

For her part, Ms Edelgard Bulmahn noted that Bundestag attaches importance to the strengthening of inter-parliamentary ties with Armenia.

The sides also touched on the process of international recognition of the Armenian Genocide, specifically the discussions in Bundestag and the circulated resolutions. In this context, Bundestag Vice President underscored the importance of such discussions in the country’s parliament, presenting the essence of the resolution and its purpose.

Ms Bulmahn also inquired about the process of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict normalization and the mediation efforts of the international community, specifically the OSCE Minsk Group. President Sargsyan briefed her on the situation in the conflict zone, as well as on the Armenian side’s position regarding the normalization.

GENOCIDE RECOGNITION A vice president of the Bundestag discusses the bill in Yerevan

May 25, 2016 By administrator

recognation genocide The German parliament is moving forward as it will discuss next week a bill to recognize the Armenian Genocide, has provided one of the vice presidents of the Bundestag Edelgard Bulmahn, during his visit to Armenia yesterday.

“It is intended that this document be adopted by the Bundestag on June 2,” Bulmahn said after talks with his Armenian counterpart Eduard Sharmazanov. “The resolution condemns, first and foremost, the deportations and massacres of Armenians and other Christian minorities of the Ottoman Empire. With this resolution, we wish to remember the victims of the Armenian genocide. “

“We will also condemn the infamous role of the German Empire, which was the main ally of Ottoman Turkey,” she added at a news conference with Eduard Sharmazanov.

The resolution was drafted by MPs representing the party of Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU), its coalition partner – the Social Democrats (SPD) and the opposition Green Party.

Bulmahn SPD member, discussed with Sharmazanov. The latter praised his “courageous” position on the issue.

German President Gauck described the massacre of 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Empire as genocide in April 2015, on the occasion of the commemoration of the genocide in Berlin centennial.

The Bundestag debated a corresponding resolution at the time, but it was not ultimately adopted following telephone interviews the Turkish Prime Minister at the time, Ahmet Davutoglu, with Angela Merkel. Davutoglu asked the Chancellor to persuade the Bundestag not to “offend Turkey.”

Earlier this month, Ambassador of Turkey in Germany Huseyin Avni Karslioglu warned the Bundestag against the adoption of the resolution: “The role of national parliaments is not to judge history.”

As expected, Armenia has welcomed the draft German MPs. “We believe that by condemning the genocide of the Armenians and other Christian peoples in Turkey, we can prevent new genocides,” Sharmazanov said yesterday.

Wednesday, May 25, 2016,
Claire © armenews.com

Germany: Bundestag resolution on Armenian ‘genocide’ is imminent

May 22, 2016 By administrator

G-0,,19210908_303,00 In June, the Bundestag intends to approve a resolution condemning the century-old Ottoman massacre of Armenians by describing it as “genocide.” The nomenclature would anger Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

When German Chancellor Angela Merkel meets Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday, she will presumably have to deal with his anger at plans by a broad Bundestag coalition to describe the crimes of the Ottoman Empire against ethnic Armenians as “genocide.” For the first time, the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Christian Social Union (CSU) parties and center-left Social Democrats and Greens look set to make the nomenclature official.

There have been debates on the subject for years, and those ratcheted up in the context of last year’s centenary of the events that left more than a million Armenians dead or deported from the land that would become Turkey. Bundestag President Norbert Lammert and German President Joachim Gauck have already used the term “genocide,” which provoked protests from Ankara. However, several attempts to reach consensus on how to officially refer to the tragedy have been put off.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier remains skeptical as to whether the Bundestag’s likely position will be helpful in regards to coming to terms with the past. A resolution that the Greens had wanted to put forward back in February was postponed in order not to sabotage negotiations as the European Union sought a controversial deportation deal with Turkey when refugees continued to arrive in large numbers. In return, Volker Kauder, the parliamentary leader of the CDU-CSU bloc, shook hands with Greens co-chair Cem Özdemir and promised that a joint resolution would move forward in the first half of 2016. Though critics said Germany was caving on the issue once again, Kauder appears to have kept his word.

“I’m going by the Bundestag’s published timetable,” Raffi Kantian, the chairman of the Hanover-based German-Armenian Society, told DW.

And, indeed, the Bundestag website indicates that an hour has been set aside on June 2 for agenda item No. 5: “Remembrance and Commemoration of the Genocide of Armenians and Other Christian Minorities 101 Years Ago.” A CDU-CSU parliamentary spokeswoman confirmed that the session would go ahead. After all, she said, the text of the resolution is ready, having been prepared by no less than three parliamentary working groups. However, there will not be a roll-call vote on the declaration on June 2. This means that members of parliament will not be obliged to attend. The resolution will be voted on by a show of hands.

The majority of foreign policy specialists from the relevant parties have given a clear signal that they will support the resolution. “There may well be trouble with Ankara,” Özdemir told the Sunday edition of the mass-circulation broadsheet Bild. “But the Bundestag does not allow itself to be blackmailed by a despot like Mr. Erdogan.” CDU-CSU foreign policy spokesman Franz-Josef Jung and Bernd Fabritius, who represents the CSU in the human rights committee, both noted that Germany had historical responsibility in the matter.

Germany culpable, too

In 1915, the German Reich, a predecessor to the modern state, was military protecting the Ottoman Empire in accordance with a strategic wartime alliance. The German side received numerous indications of atrocities and ethnic cleansing by the Young Turk government of the day. According to scholarly estimates, as many as 1.5 million Armenians in the Ottoman Empire were deported and killed. The German Reich did not intervene; furthermore, it guaranteed postwar asylum for the responsible parties after they had been stripped of their power.

Germany now intends officially to apologize for this. Kantian, of the German-Armenian Society, hopes that this apology will be part of the final text to be approved on June 2. That much isn’t certain yet, but the Left party and the Greens have both demanded not only that the term “genocide” be used but that Germany apologize.

The Greens even put as much in writing back in February: “The German Bundestag regrets the inglorious role of the German Reich, which, despite unequivocal information, including from German diplomats and missionaries, about the organized expulsion and extermination of the Armenians, did not attempt to stop these crimes against humanity.”

Germany MP: Bundestag will pass Armenian Genocide resolution this time

May 19, 2016 By administrator

Recognize G YEREVAN. – After struggling for years for the Armenian Genocide recognition at our Bundestag (parliament), the respective resolution shall finally be adopted on June 2, and where it will be called like it is: genocide.

Ursula “Ulla” Jelpke, Left Faction member of the German Bundestag and member of Die Linke Party of Germany, on Thursday stated the aforementioned at a press conference in Armenia’s capital city of Yerevan.

The German MP, however, stated that such a resolution should have passed a long time ago.

“The document, which we have submitted to the Bundestag, contains a more important point,” Jelpke stated. “We underscore the acceptance of Germany’s accountability and complicity [in the Armenian Genocide].”

And when asked how confident she is that the resolution will pass this time, Ulla Jelpke noted that she is sure of this.

“German Chancellor Angela Merkel was criticized for conducting a deal with Turkey,” the MP added. “So, the Bundestag MPs want to express their clear [respective] position, and say that we have our own view.”

Germany: Bundestag motion on Armenia ‘genocide’ set to infuriate Erdogan – The Financial Times

May 16, 2016 By administrator

Germany’s parliament is pressing ahead with a motion condemning the Armenian massacres by the Ottoman Turks during the first world war as a “genocide”, in a move that will probably infuriate Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkish president, and threaten the fragile EU-Turkey deal on refugees.

The vote, scheduled for June 2, comes amid a diplomatic scandal over a German comedian’s obscene anti-Erdogan poem and growing concerns in the EU about a central element in the refugee deal — the planned visa-free travel accord for Turks in the Schengen zone.

The motion could further complicate the intensive efforts of Angela Merkel, German Chancellor, to placate Erdogan and persuade him to drop threats to scrap the refugee accord out of anger at what he sees as EU-based disrespect for Turkey.

Ms Merkel could meet the Turkish leader again as soon as next weekend, when she is visiting Istanbul for a UN conference on emergency aid.

The Bundestag has been discussing a possible genocide motion on the Armenian massacres since well before last year’s 100th anniversary of the killings, in which up to 1.5m Armenians died. But even after a passionate parliamentary debate in April 2015, Ms Merkel’s government resisted efforts led by the opposition Green party to hold a formal vote.

Even before the refugee crisis, Ms Merkel was concerned about the potential damage to German-Turkish relations and to the feelings of nearly 4m people of Turkish origin living in Germany.

However, the government decided last year it could no longer hold the line in the face of some politicians in the ruling conservative-social democrat coalition breaking ranks and a wave of explicit genocide declarations coming from elsewhere, including the Pope.

After negotiations with the Green party, party managers of the CDU/CSU and SPD have agreed to back a genocide motion. This means it is almost certain to be passed.

While the text has yet to be published, the agenda item already makes the intentions clear: “In remembrance and commemoration of the genocide of the Armenians and other Christian minorities in the Ottoman Empire 101 years ago.”

The long delay in the vote means it comes at an even more awkward time than a year ago. However, Cem Özdemir, the Turkish-origin co-leader of the Greens, told Bild am Sonntag newspaper: “It can well be that there will be anger in Ankara. But the Bundestag is not letting itself be blackmailed by a despot like Mr Erdogan.”

Many MPs are already furious that Ms Merkel permitted prosecutors last month to pursue a criminal case against Jan Böhmermann, a television comedian who read out a poem accusing Mr Erdogan of having sex with animals, and “kicking Kurds and beating up Christians while watching child porn”.

German political leaders have also expressed reservations about the visa-free travel plan, insisting Turkey must first fulfil tough conditions, including reforming its anti-terror laws. Mr Erdogan has threatened to reopen Turkey’s borders for refugees heading for Greece if he does not get an early travel deal.

Horst Seehofer, CSU leader and Ms Merkel’s most important domestic political critic, warned this weekend in the Welt newspaper that it was “dangerous” for Germany to be so despondent on Turkey. Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the foreign minister from the SPD, also told Tagesspiegel newspaper that it was up to Turkey to meet the conditions for visa-free travel. “Turkey knows what needs to be done,” he said.

GERMANY Armenian Genocide: A funny handshake Bundestag

February 28, 2016 By administrator

arton122603-480x271 The debate in the Bundestag on the proposal of the Greens on the Armenian genocide did take place Thursday afternoon, however, because the future EU-Turkey summit on refugees no vote was taken but the governing parties have promised that a vote will take place shortly.

The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung spoke yesterday the episode in an article entitled “a hard handshake in difficult times.”

The newspaper says “see a handshake between the opposition and the government is very rare in a plenary session of the Bundestag. Sometimes these handshakes represent a change of power – as was the case when Chancellor Helmut Schmidt SPD was ousted by a vote of no confidence and approached the winner Helmut Kohl and he silently shook hands firmly . This happened once in Bonn. Now, in Berlin, there was a special moment between Volker Kauder, head of the group of the Union in power, and Cem Özdemir, head of the Green Party in opposition. The handshake of the two did not take place as part of a transfer of power – it appeared a promising future. “

To log all stakeholders in the debate in the Bundestag have qualified the massacre of Armenians in 1915 as genocide and an agreement was reached for a joint resolution to be adopted “before the summer”.

The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung said “during the debate in plenary on Thursday experienced parliamentarians later said they felt a mixture of pride and enthusiasm, something they had not seen in twenty years as deputy”.

Summarizing the trade paper said “Cem Özdemir finally got up, walked to Kauder, expressed its conditions, Kauder nodded several times, then the two men while looking seriously exchanged a long handshake. The resolution was withdrawn. A small sensation, this debate is not ritualized brawl, but in a struggle to find the best solution. “

The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung concludes that a person was “amused” by this gesture of brotherhood and Kauders Özdemir. “Angela Merkel fears a harsh reaction of the Turks.”