Greece puts a price tag on WW2 reparations: 279 billion euros

April 7, 2015 By administrator

Athens has said Germany should pay nearly 279 billion euros in compensation for the Nazi occupation of the country. The claim comes as Greece faces demands from the IMF to introduce more pension cuts and raise taxes.

Greece demanded 278.7 billion euros ($304.74) from Germany as compensation for damages it incurred during World War Two, Athens deputy finance minister Dimitris Mardas said while speaking to a parliamentary committee on Monday.

According to calculations by Greece’s General Accounting Office, reparations amounted to 278.7 billion euros, a sum which a parliamentary panel set up by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras was trying to claim from Germany.

This is the first time the Greek government quantified its claims, which included seeking war reparations and a so-called occupation loan that Nazi Germany forced the Bank of Greece to make. Athens also demanded that Berlin return its stolen archaeological treasures.

Germany has rejected Athens’ demands, saying it settled the matter with a general compensation payment of 115 million deutschmarks in 1960. However, the issue continues to mar Greek-German relations and has gained more momentum amid Greece’s economic crisis and its government’s refusal to implement austerity measures.

Debtors had been concerned after speculation that Athens may default on its repayment of 450 million euros, due on April 9. However IMF chief Christine Lagarde announced that Greece’s Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis had confirmed his country would pay back the money. Varoufakis also said his country would try to seal an initial deal with the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund by April 24.

Greece’s finance ministry has said the IMF is demanding that the government introduce more pension cuts and hike VAT as part of its reforms. Prime Minister Tsipras and his Syriza party, however, say they worry that such a cut may impact their voter base – voters who put Syriza in charge because of the party’s opposition to austerity measures.

European Union countries have also expressed concern about rumors that Tsipras may look for help from Russia, which he is scheduled to visit on April 8.

Finance Minister Varoufakis has assured critics that his country’s woes could only be solved within the “European family” and that discussions with Moscow will focus only on bilateral trade and investment.

mg/gsw (Reuters, dpa, AFP)

The commemoration of the centennial of the Armenian Genocide problem in Germany

April 2, 2015 By administrator

As we approach the 100th anniversary of the Armenian genocide dispute appeared in the Bundestag on the commemoration is considered. While the Greens and the Left want to talk about the genocide as such, the federal government and the advice of coalition parties have expressed reservations about it.

Der Tagesspiegel newspaper according to the “apparently, it is feared a conflict with Turkey, which rejects the classification of the massacre as genocide today.”

On April 24, a one-hour debate in the Bundestag should take place on the occasion of the anniversary.

Bundestag in recent months, an informal working group of politicians from all four groups discussed how to handle this anniversary. For members Cem Özdemir of the Green Party and the party die Petra Pau Link, it was clear they want to use the word genocide with their fractions. In turn the competent Rapporteur of the CDU and SPD, Christoph Bergner and Dietmar Nietan wanted face forward the position there are more than ten years without mention of the word genocide.

In the common text they had made late last week, the word genocide was in the title. But after finalization by the heads of factions and the German Foreign Ministry, the controversial term has disappeared again.

Der Tagesspiegel newspaper according to the “apparently it is feared an affront to Turkey at an inopportune time. In June, there will be elections. Turkey is also a partner in the fight against the terrorist militia “Islamic state” (IS) that is necessary. “

MEPs will vote at their next group meeting on April 21 on the resolution. But it is likely that the term genocide will be used again in the preamble.

“Personally, I am disappointed that he seems to lack a critical point of courage, even to say what happened,” said the deputy Dietmar Nietan SPD. He does not think it useful to give in to pressure Turkey and the word genocide is not pronounced. Over the last ten years the debate has changed there Nietan said. “If the German Parliament called genocide openly, we can also strengthen those of civil society in Turkey working for a renewal.”

His colleague CDU Christoph Bergner is “that we should try to clarify the dimension that had events there 100 years clearly indicate them.”

The German Foreign Ministry, told the contrary, a culture of remembrance can not be prescribed “from outside and from above” as stated by the Minister of State for Europe, Michael Roth. She needs space and time to grow within the company.

“We welcome the fact that the endless suffering, expulsion and murder of Armenians in Turkey for many years are no longer a taboo and publicly criticized and is also discussed” said the politician of the SPD.

“It is important to contribute to the understanding and reconciliation between Armenians and Turks, which is why we continue to promote dialogue and exchange projects,” said Roth.

However, the chairman of the Green Party Cem Özdemir believes this is not enough. He criticized the federal government does not ready 100 years after the genocide, to name the genocide by name.

“The Federal Republic is the legal successor of the German Empire and therefore the closest ally of the Ottoman Empire in the responsibility,” he has said.

The debate is just beginning in Germany.

Thursday, April 2, 2015,
Stéphane © armenews.com

Julius H. Schoeps Why Germany is facing its complicity in the Armenian Genocide

March 20, 2015 By administrator

Julius H. Schoeps

In a long article published in the German Jewish newspaper Allgemeine Jüdish, historian, political scientist, Julius H. Schoeps, director of the Moses Mendelssohn Center for European Jewish Studies at the University of Potsdam, explains the complicity made by Germany during extermination of the Armenian people in 1915, reviewing the history and similarities of atrocities that have come to suffer the Jews from Spain in the 15th century.

He said that Germany should contribute to reconciliation between Turks and Armenians, there is no doubt that this is a genocide that Bundstag to recognize. “A resolution to be adopted on Remembrance Day, April 24,” he said. Adding: “The members of the German Bundestag would be wise to wonder if they should not do it. Time is short. There is not much time. »
Friday, March 20, 2015,
Jean Eckian © armenews.com

Greece threatens to seize German property, Berlin refuses to pay WWII reparations

March 11, 2015 By administrator

Germany says it won’t pay Greece World War 2 reparations after Greek PM Alexis Tsipras said Berlin is using legal tricks to avoid paying compensation. Germany says it’s honored its obligations, while Greece says it may start seizing German property.

Germany once again dismissed Greek demands to pay reparations for the 1941-44 Nazi occupation of Greece.

“It is our firm belief that questions of reparations and compensation have been legally and politically resolved,” said Steffen Seibert, the spokesman for German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

“We should concentrate on current issues and, hopefully, what will be a good future,” Reuters reported him as saying.

A spokesman for the finance ministry said there was no point in holding talks with the Greek government concerning the issue of reparations. The spokesman also added that the demands from Athens were just trying to distract attention away from the serious financial problems the country is facing.

With Germany refusing to budge from its position concerning the payment of war reparations, Greece’s Justice Minister said Wednesday that Athens could start seizing German assets.

Nikos Paraskevopoulos said he was “ready to approve” a Greek Supreme Court ruling in 2000 that would allow the appropriation of assets belonging to Germany’s archaeological school and the Goethe Institute. Proceeds from the property would be used to compensate the relatives of 218 civilians who were massacred by Nazi troops in a village in central Greece in June 1944.

“The law states that the minister must give the order for the Supreme Court ruling to be carried out…. I am ready to give that order,” Paraskevopoulos told Antenna TV, AFP reported.

“It is our firm belief that questions of reparations and compensation have been legally and politically resolved,” said Steffen Seibert, the spokesman for German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

A spokesman for the finance ministry also said there was no reason to hold talks with Athens about reparations and called the demands a distraction from actual financial issues facing Greece.

The issue of war reparations dating from the 1941-44 Nazi occupation of Greece is likely to increase already heightened tensions between Athens and Berlin. The two countries are already squabbling over Greek demands to renegotiate the terms of a €240 billion ($260 billion) bailout. However, with Germany showing few signs of leniency, the new left-wing Syriza government has decided to raise the issue of war reparations again with Berlin.

Reichsmarks, now worth roughly $12 billion. The loan was never repaid, while Greece is also seeking further reparations from Germany due to the destruction wrought upon the nation during the Nazi occupation.

“Germany has never properly paid reparations for the damage done to Greece by the Nazi occupation,” Prime Minister Tsipras told the Greek parliament Tuesday. “The crimes carried out by the Nazis are still vivid, and we have a moral obligation to remember what the forces did to the country.”

Greece has been trying to get Germany to pay war damages for decades, but Athens has never quantified its reparation claims. The movement to get Berlin to pay up has become stronger over the last few years as Athens experiences financial hardships following austerity measures, which were a prerequisite of being given the bailout money, to stop the country from falling into financial ruin.

Tsipras says he will get a parliamentary commission to look into the matter, saying: “After the reunification of Germany in 1990, the legal and political conditions were created for this issue to be solved. But since then, German governments chose silence, legal tricks and delay.”

“And I wonder, because there is a lot of talk at the European level these days about moral issues: is this stance moral?” he said.

Berlin has flatly denied it owes Athens any more money, saying it has already settled its debts following German reunification in 1990. The “Two Plus Four” treaty, which involved East and West Germany, as well as the four occupying nations following the Second World War, France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and the United States, saw them renounce all rights they formerly held in Germany. The document was also approved by Greece, which would effectively draw a line under any future possible claims for war reparations.

Germany says it paid Greece war damages of $25 million in the 1950s, equivalent to $220 million today, and also paid out 115 million Deutschmarks (a sum worth around $230 million today), to victims of Nazi crimes in the early 1960s.

Athens has said it always considered that money as only an initial payment and expected the rest of the money to be paid back following German reunification.

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Ralf Wieland: Germany shares responsibility for Armenian Genocide

February 28, 2015 By administrator

During the First World War Germany as an ally was well aware of the Young Turks’ plans and shared responsibility for a genocide perpetrated against Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, chairman of the state parliament of Berlin Ralf Wieland said.

The state parliament of Berlin organized a commemoration event dedicated to the centennial of the Armenian Genocide.

The speakers called on Turkey to recognize the Genocide in order to prevent repetition of similar crimes against humanity.

President the state parliament of Berlin touched upon the role of Germany: “During the First World War, Kaiser’s Germany as an ally, knew about the plans of the Young Turk government, and shared with them the responsibility for perpetrating a genocide against the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire. The German side was aware, however, prevention of the crime was not in the interests of the country”.

Germany suspends spy tech exports to Turkey over democratic regression

February 25, 2015 By administrator

Chancellor Merkel

German authorities have suspended the sale of intelligence equipment to Turkey over its NATO ally’s regressing democracy under the rule of Justice and Development Party (AK Party), which allegedly profiles its own citizens, Today’s Zaman has learned.

According to German official sources, Turkey applied Berlin to purchase audio surveillance equipment and software to be used by the National Police Department last year. However, German authorities have failed to approve Turkey’s request. While the process of such a sale would normally last 6-8 weeks, the sale has not taken place yet although more than six months have passed.

German Deputy Prime Minister and Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel, who is responsible for granting arms and intelligence technology export permits, is thought to have personally blocked the sale. Gabriel last year openly declared that he would use his right to veto surveillance and monitoring technologies export to anti-democratic countries to prevent spy software made in Germany from being used for internal repression by autocratic regimes.

Berlin’s new policy on spy technology export to Turkey comes on the heels of a series of diplomatic crises between the two countries in the past few years.

The relations between Germany and Turkey, two NATO allies, received a sharp blow due to an intelligence crisis in August of last year, when leaked records revealed that Germany had been spying on Turkey since 2009. While this incident angered Turkish authorities, Germany remained mostly silent about the claims.

A report by German magazine Der Spiegel suggested that Germany’s Federal Intelligence Service (BND) was and is still spying on Turkey, citing a confidential 2009 BND document.

Ties between Turkey and Germany were further strained after the recent arrest of three Turkish citizens in Germany on charges of spying on German-Turks for Turkish intelligence.

On Dec. 18, German federal prosecutors announced that three Turkish men had been arrested on charges of having close links with Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization (MİT) and spying on their compatriots in Germany for MİT. The three men are in custody, pending a possible indictment.

Turkish officials have denied that the three Turkish men arrested in Germany have any links with MİT.

Book German Complicity in Genocide: the role of Germany in the extermination of the Armenians

February 19, 2015 By administrator

Book German Complicity, in Armenian Genocide

Beihilfe zum Völkermord: Deutschlands Rolle der bei der Vernichtung Armenier Gebundene Ausgabe – 25. Februar 2015 von Jürgen Gottschlich (Author)

One hundred years after the atrocities committed against the Armenians in Turkey, the author and journalist Jürgen Gottschlich accuses Germany of “complicity in genocide”.

It is clear that the military and German diplomats were aware the Ottoman Empire massacre and deportation of Armenians said Jürgen Gottschlich in Istanbul.

The book “complicity in genocide” of the newspaper’s correspondent “Tageszeitung” (“taz”) appears in Istanbul on Thursday.

Jürgen Gottschlich criticized the fact that Germany has barely addressed the question of its role in the extermination of the Armenians.

Jürgen Gottschlich visited the scene of the events, interviewed the descendants of the families, as explored by German and Turkish archives. The result is a fascinating historical documentary that exposes the whole dimension of German participation in the genocide and the controversy that exists around these events so far.

Thursday, February 19, 2015,
Stéphane © armenews.com

Greek cartoon depicts German finance minister as Nazi

February 14, 2015 By administrator

Greek cartoon depicts German finance minister as Nazi

(Reuters) A spokesman for Germany’s finance minister Friday condemned as “vile” a Greek newspaper caricature that showed minister Wolfgang Schaeuble in a Nazi-era army uniform and alluded to the Holocaust.

The artist of the cartoon in Sunday’s Avgi newspaper, a pro-Syriza party daily, should be “ashamed,” said Schaeuble’s spokesman, asked to comment at a regular government briefing.

“There is the principle of freedom of expression,” spokesman Martin Jaeger told reporters.

“I will also make use of this freedom of expression, and on a very personal basis I say: this caricature is vile and the artist of this caricature should be ashamed.”

The cartoon depicts Germany’s finance minister in a Wehrmacht uniform saying “we insist on the soap from your fat … we are prepared to discuss the fertilizer from your ashes.”
The headline reads, “The negotiation has begun,” referring to the talks the new Syriza-led government in Athens is holding with its eurozone partners on debt relief and economic reforms.

The Greek newspaper, which has a daily circulation of only about 1,800, published another cartoon of Schaeuble in its Friday edition, also wearing a German army uniform.

Germany has been the strongest opponent of Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’s plans for an overhaul of its huge loans program. Many in Athens blame Berlin for imposing austerity since the country’s first bailout in 2010.

Greece began tough negotiations with its creditors on Friday as hopes grew of a deal to replace its detested bailout after Tsipras pushed his case at a European summit.

Officials from Athens held technical discussions with the EU, International Monetary Fund and European Central Bank in Brussels ahead of a last-ditch meeting of eurozone finance ministers on Monday.

European and Asian stock markets rose Friday on the more positive mood after hard-left leader Tsipras met German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the leader of Europe’s biggest economy, and other counterparts in Brussels.

Tsipras vowed after his election in January to replace the current €240 billion ($270 billion) EU-IMF bailout with its heavy austerity measures, and to ditch the so-called troika of its creditors.

But with the Greek rescue program due to expire at the end of the month, time is running out to prevent a possible Greek default and a potentially catastrophic exit from the 19-country eurozone.

A senior EU official closely involved in Friday’s technical-level talks said that a new bailout programme was an option, despite the insistence of Greece’s eurozone counterparts until now that Athens stick to the current rescue package.

“It is not crucial to extend. One could also agree that one will commence discussions on a new programme,” the EU official said on condition of anonymity. “I would not exclude it.”

Bundestag president says entire Europe is aware of Armenian Genocide

February 14, 2015 By administrator

Georgian diocese, Armenian Church met with the president of Bundestag president,

The head of Georgian diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church met with the president of Bundestag, Professor Norbert Lammert on Friday.

The meeting was held on the initiative of the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Mr. Ortwin Hennig, at the Embassy of Germany in Georgia.

High-ranking clergymen representing Georgian Orthodox, Roman Catholic, German Lutheran and Evangelical Baptist Churches, Chief Rabbi of Jewish community, the spiritual leader of Yazidi community and, of course, the Primate of the Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church in Georgia, His Grace Bishop Vazgen Mirzakhanyan, attended the meeting.

The president of Bundestag and other high-level guests inquired about the religious tolerance in Georgia and the mutual cooperation among Christian, Islamic, Jewish and other religious communities.

The Primate of the Diocese presented the history of the Armenian Church and Diocese in Georgia and raised main concerns of the Church and community.

The Primate highlighted that despite difficulties, the mutual cooperation among religious communities continues. As for the cooperation with Georgian government – the Diocese anticipates to resolve the issue of restitution of its historical churches.

Professor Norbert Lammert asked the Primate about the mutual relations between Armenian and Islamic communities and between Armenians and Turks in Georgia in view of the approaching 100th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. The president of Bundestag noted that the entire Europe is aware of the genocide against Armenians committed hundred years ago and carefully observe Armenian-Turkish relations; all the Armenian communities plan to hold commemorative events related to the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. High-level guests also inquired about how many refugees Georgia accepted during the genocide

His Grace thanked Professor Norbert Lammert for his attention to the great pain of Armenian people and said that despite historic events, Armenian and Islamic communities in Georgia coexist peacefully. He noted that nearly one third of Armenians in Georgia are the descendants of the Armenian genocide victims; Armenian community plans to hold events dedicated to the 100th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide and thus to speak out for justice. The primate also thanked Georgian authorities and all religious communities, who always support Armenian community and share its grief.

The statistic data on mixed ethnic marriages and multicultural cooperation was discussed as well.

German-Armenian community representative is killed

February 14, 2015 By administrator

German Police

A cultural board member of the Armenian community in Bielefeld, Germany, has died Wednesday due to a gunshot wound.

The incident occurred on Tuesday at around 7։15pm local time (10։15pm Armenia time), reported Die Welt daily of Germany.

According to police, three men had started to argue nearby a furniture store in the city, and one of them had shot Grigoryan. Hours after hospitalization, however, the Armenian man had died from the bodily injuries he had sustained.

Those involved in this incident are from former Yugoslavia, the Neue Westfälische daily reported citing its police sources. The perpetrators, a 39-year-old Serb and a 36-year-old Kosovar, had fled the scene.

The motives for the murder are yet unknown, but an investigation is underway.