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MERKEL REJECTS DISCUSSION OVER ARMENIAN GENOCIDE LAW
tert.am
10.07.12
A genocide law has proved to be the most popular suggestion on the
online platform, with nearly 157,000 Germans saying they wanted the
government to pass a law which would make it illegal to deny that
the mass killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks in the WWII period
was genocide.
Such a move - already attempted by France - would badly harm
relations with Turkey, a key trade partner, and Merkel rejected
it in a discussion this week with some of the poll participants,
Reuters reported.
Merkel also turned down a call for holding more critical debates
about Islam, a politically sensitive issue in Germany which is home
to around four million Muslims.
Merkel, who comes from formerly communist eastern Germany, responded
much more warmly to a proposal to plant trees in towns and cities
across Germany as memorials to German reunification.
Other popular suggestions made in the survey included more political
support for home births and making artificial insemination more
affordable.
The online poll is part of an ongoing government initiative called
"Dialogue on the Future" that aims to get ordinary Germans thinking
about how to improve life in Germany.
The recent rapid rise of a new party, the Pirates, who campaign for
Internet freedoms, has underlined to German politicians the growing
importance of the web for mobilising citizens in support of political
causes.
tert.am
10.07.12
A genocide law has proved to be the most popular suggestion on the
online platform, with nearly 157,000 Germans saying they wanted the
government to pass a law which would make it illegal to deny that
the mass killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks in the WWII period
was genocide.
Such a move - already attempted by France - would badly harm
relations with Turkey, a key trade partner, and Merkel rejected
it in a discussion this week with some of the poll participants,
Reuters reported.
Merkel also turned down a call for holding more critical debates
about Islam, a politically sensitive issue in Germany which is home
to around four million Muslims.
Merkel, who comes from formerly communist eastern Germany, responded
much more warmly to a proposal to plant trees in towns and cities
across Germany as memorials to German reunification.
Other popular suggestions made in the survey included more political
support for home births and making artificial insemination more
affordable.
The online poll is part of an ongoing government initiative called
"Dialogue on the Future" that aims to get ordinary Germans thinking
about how to improve life in Germany.
The recent rapid rise of a new party, the Pirates, who campaign for
Internet freedoms, has underlined to German politicians the growing
importance of the web for mobilising citizens in support of political
causes.