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AMBASSADOR SAYS GERMANY DOES NOT TOLERATE DENIAL OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
ARMENPRESS
Mar 20 2006
YEREVAN, MARCH 20, ARMENPRESS: In an exclusive interview to Armenpress
Armenian ambassador to Germany, Karine Ghazinian, said debates in
Germany over the Armenian genocide have reached a point when the fact
of the genocide is not questioned any longer and the focus is now
on how a nation that experienced the aftereffects of the Holocaust
could tolerate efforts to deny the first genocide of the last century.
She said only 70 Turk nationalists had gathered on a square in
Berlin on March 15 where an Armenian student, Soghomon Teilerian,
had killed Taleat Pasha, one of the major masterminds of Armenian
massacres in the Ottoman empire, in 1921. She said there was another
protest rally of Armenians, Greeks, Assyrians and also Germans who
protested against Turks.
Ms. Ghazinian also said another demonstration by Turks in Berlin
on March 18 was attended by 2000 Turks who were flying Turkish,
Azerbaijani flags and also flags of the Turkish Republic of the
Northern Cyprus.
She said the rally was being filmed by police and that was why its
participants were vigilant and did not fly anti-Armenian posters,
instead flying others describing Armenia as 'aggressor' that has
seized Azerbaijani lands. She said a court decision to overrule a
police ban on the March 18 demonstration was unprecedented as it came
to fill a gap in a 2005 June 16 Bundestag resolution urging Turkey to
acknowledge the Armenian genocide. The court ruled that any denial
of the fact of the Armenian genocide, in written form or verbally,
was a punishable crime.
She said the court ruling showed that German authorities remained
committed to democracy and on the other hand, it introduced a
restriction, which comes as progress in efforts for international
recognition of the Armenian genocide. She said the German media was
full of articles on those days condemning the activity of Taleat
organization and providing information about Taleat and Soghomon
Teilerian.
In 2005 June 16 all factions of the German Bundestag approved a
resolution regarding the Armenian Genocide. The word `genocide'
was used in the resolution only once, when stating that `numerous
independent historians, parliaments and international organizations
qualified the deportation and extermination of Armenians as
genocide.' The document called on the German government to press
Turkey to investigate the killings and foster reconciliation.
In its motion, the German parliament said it was "convinced an honest
historical review is needed and represents the most important basis
for reconciliation." The resolution also recommends establishing a
commission composed of Turkish, Armenian and foreign historians to
study the past events. It is said in the document that the Turkish
authorities `oppress attempts to start a debate on this issue inside
the country.' The resolution stated that `Germany bears a special
responsibility in the matter of reconciling the Armenians and the
Turks, because the German Reich once turned a blind eye to the actions
of its allies in World War I.' The lawmakers called on the Foreign
Ministry of Germany to open its archives related to that period.
ARMENPRESS
Mar 20 2006
YEREVAN, MARCH 20, ARMENPRESS: In an exclusive interview to Armenpress
Armenian ambassador to Germany, Karine Ghazinian, said debates in
Germany over the Armenian genocide have reached a point when the fact
of the genocide is not questioned any longer and the focus is now
on how a nation that experienced the aftereffects of the Holocaust
could tolerate efforts to deny the first genocide of the last century.
She said only 70 Turk nationalists had gathered on a square in
Berlin on March 15 where an Armenian student, Soghomon Teilerian,
had killed Taleat Pasha, one of the major masterminds of Armenian
massacres in the Ottoman empire, in 1921. She said there was another
protest rally of Armenians, Greeks, Assyrians and also Germans who
protested against Turks.
Ms. Ghazinian also said another demonstration by Turks in Berlin
on March 18 was attended by 2000 Turks who were flying Turkish,
Azerbaijani flags and also flags of the Turkish Republic of the
Northern Cyprus.
She said the rally was being filmed by police and that was why its
participants were vigilant and did not fly anti-Armenian posters,
instead flying others describing Armenia as 'aggressor' that has
seized Azerbaijani lands. She said a court decision to overrule a
police ban on the March 18 demonstration was unprecedented as it came
to fill a gap in a 2005 June 16 Bundestag resolution urging Turkey to
acknowledge the Armenian genocide. The court ruled that any denial
of the fact of the Armenian genocide, in written form or verbally,
was a punishable crime.
She said the court ruling showed that German authorities remained
committed to democracy and on the other hand, it introduced a
restriction, which comes as progress in efforts for international
recognition of the Armenian genocide. She said the German media was
full of articles on those days condemning the activity of Taleat
organization and providing information about Taleat and Soghomon
Teilerian.
In 2005 June 16 all factions of the German Bundestag approved a
resolution regarding the Armenian Genocide. The word `genocide'
was used in the resolution only once, when stating that `numerous
independent historians, parliaments and international organizations
qualified the deportation and extermination of Armenians as
genocide.' The document called on the German government to press
Turkey to investigate the killings and foster reconciliation.
In its motion, the German parliament said it was "convinced an honest
historical review is needed and represents the most important basis
for reconciliation." The resolution also recommends establishing a
commission composed of Turkish, Armenian and foreign historians to
study the past events. It is said in the document that the Turkish
authorities `oppress attempts to start a debate on this issue inside
the country.' The resolution stated that `Germany bears a special
responsibility in the matter of reconciling the Armenians and the
Turks, because the German Reich once turned a blind eye to the actions
of its allies in World War I.' The lawmakers called on the Foreign
Ministry of Germany to open its archives related to that period.