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THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE: GERMAN GOVERNMENT IN DISTRESS
EurActiv
April 17 2015
Published: 17/04/2015 - 08:37 | Updated: 17/04/2015 - 10:56
Joachim Gauck [Deutscher Bundestag / Achim Melde] Source: Tagesspiegel
Next week, German President Joachim Gauck could call the genocide in
Armenia by name. This would be disgraceful for the German government,
which instead wants to avoid the word "genocide". But criticism is
constantly growing louder - even among its own ranks.
Will President Gauck utter the words that the grand coalition, out of
consideration for its Nato partner Turkey, wants to avoid all together?
For weeks, the centre-right alliance and the Social Democratic Party
(SPD) have debated whether to clearly define the 1915 Armenian Genocide
committed by the Ottoman Empire as genocide.
Due to pressure from the Chancellory and the Foreign Office, a
corresponding request from both factions was defused when the term
'genocide' was taken out of the title.
But now the government must reckon with the head of state choosing
clear words on the evening before the 100th anniversary of this crime
against humanity.
Opposition speaks of moral cowardice
At the invitation of Christian churches in Germany, Gauck will
participate in an ecumenical service on 23 April in the Berlin
Cathedral, in remembrance of the "genocide perpetrated against
Armenians, Arameans and Greeks of Pontos".
Following the ceremony, the German President will make a brief speech.
In coalition circles, his acceptance, alone, has been interpreted
as a clear sign that Gauck will call the genocide by name, without
respect for diplomatic considerations.
In that case, the centre-right alliance and SPD will face the threat of
disgrace. On the following day, the 100th anniversary of the genocide,
the coalition plans to introduce and discuss the toned-down version of
its request in the Bundestag. Shortly after, the Green and Left parties
will accuse the coalition of moral cowardice and opportunism, in all
probability referring to the President's words in the same breath.
"Deeply humiliating"
Meanwhile, leaders of the coalition are faced with a more uncomfortable
situation: within its own ranks, the restraint considering Turkey
is also seen as embarrassing. This could also come to light in the
parliament on Friday (17 April).
Erika Steinbach, who hails from the centre-right Christian Democratic
Union (CDU), is chairman of the working group on human rights in the
centre-right Bundestag faction. It would be "deeply humiliating",
for the Bundestag not to call the genocide against Armenia by name,
she told the Tagesspiegel newspaper.
The "credibility of German human rights policy" is at stake here,
Steinbach warned. She has already had her name put on the list of
speakers for Friday's session. The CDU politician said, "In the
Bundestag, I will clearly say that it was a genocide."
The SPD's human rights policy spokesman, Frank Schwabe, is struggling
with the guidelines from the administration of Foreign Minister
Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
"The German government must be capable of clearly naming the Armenian
Genocide," Schwabe said. "Otherwise we are robbing ourselves of the
opportunity to define current and future genocides as such."
With this opinion, Steinbach and Schwabe are by no means alone
within their respective factions. When the request is discussed in
the parliamentary group sessions this coming Tuesday (21 April),
chairmen Volker Kauder (CDU) and Thomas Oppermann (SPD) will have to
reckon with substantial opposition.
"If we were to vote freely in the faction, independent of diplomatic
considerations, the genocide would be defined as such," Schwabe
said assuredly.
At the latest, pressure has been mounting in the centre-right alliance
since last weekend, when Pope Francis decried the genocide as the
first of the 20th century, and was consequently rebuked by the
Turkish government.
Central Council of Jews: Germany has a special responsibility
On Wednesday (15 April) the Central Council of Jews in Germany left
little room for doubt regarding its position.
"100 years ago, over a million Armenians in the Ottoman Empire were
deported at the government's command. They were directly murdered
or starved and died of thirst in the desert," the organisation's
president, Josef Schuster, told Tagesspiegel.
"This terrible event should be called what it was: a genocide," he
argued. As a result, Schuster sees the German government as having
a special responsibility, because German officers were among the
accessories and accomplices.
"Later, Hitler virtually used the Armenian Genocide as a model for
the extermination of the Jews," Schuster said.
Armenian sources indicate that 1.5 million people fell victim to the
genocide. Among historians, it has long been undisputed that the 1915
atrocities of the Ottoman Empire should be recognised as genocide.
More than a dozen countries including France, Switzerland and the
Netherlands define the displacement, rape and massacres that took
place as genocide. The United Nations and the European Parliament
also share this view.
The 100th anniversary of the start of these crimes is a significant
opportunity to process the past, a resolution from Wednesday evening
indicated.
Meanwhile, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has for years
rejected the accusation that a genocide took place in Armenia. Even
now he emphasised, "There is no black spot of genocide on our country."
Source: Tagesspiegel
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
EurActiv
April 17 2015
Published: 17/04/2015 - 08:37 | Updated: 17/04/2015 - 10:56
Joachim Gauck [Deutscher Bundestag / Achim Melde] Source: Tagesspiegel
Next week, German President Joachim Gauck could call the genocide in
Armenia by name. This would be disgraceful for the German government,
which instead wants to avoid the word "genocide". But criticism is
constantly growing louder - even among its own ranks.
Will President Gauck utter the words that the grand coalition, out of
consideration for its Nato partner Turkey, wants to avoid all together?
For weeks, the centre-right alliance and the Social Democratic Party
(SPD) have debated whether to clearly define the 1915 Armenian Genocide
committed by the Ottoman Empire as genocide.
Due to pressure from the Chancellory and the Foreign Office, a
corresponding request from both factions was defused when the term
'genocide' was taken out of the title.
But now the government must reckon with the head of state choosing
clear words on the evening before the 100th anniversary of this crime
against humanity.
Opposition speaks of moral cowardice
At the invitation of Christian churches in Germany, Gauck will
participate in an ecumenical service on 23 April in the Berlin
Cathedral, in remembrance of the "genocide perpetrated against
Armenians, Arameans and Greeks of Pontos".
Following the ceremony, the German President will make a brief speech.
In coalition circles, his acceptance, alone, has been interpreted
as a clear sign that Gauck will call the genocide by name, without
respect for diplomatic considerations.
In that case, the centre-right alliance and SPD will face the threat of
disgrace. On the following day, the 100th anniversary of the genocide,
the coalition plans to introduce and discuss the toned-down version of
its request in the Bundestag. Shortly after, the Green and Left parties
will accuse the coalition of moral cowardice and opportunism, in all
probability referring to the President's words in the same breath.
"Deeply humiliating"
Meanwhile, leaders of the coalition are faced with a more uncomfortable
situation: within its own ranks, the restraint considering Turkey
is also seen as embarrassing. This could also come to light in the
parliament on Friday (17 April).
Erika Steinbach, who hails from the centre-right Christian Democratic
Union (CDU), is chairman of the working group on human rights in the
centre-right Bundestag faction. It would be "deeply humiliating",
for the Bundestag not to call the genocide against Armenia by name,
she told the Tagesspiegel newspaper.
The "credibility of German human rights policy" is at stake here,
Steinbach warned. She has already had her name put on the list of
speakers for Friday's session. The CDU politician said, "In the
Bundestag, I will clearly say that it was a genocide."
The SPD's human rights policy spokesman, Frank Schwabe, is struggling
with the guidelines from the administration of Foreign Minister
Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
"The German government must be capable of clearly naming the Armenian
Genocide," Schwabe said. "Otherwise we are robbing ourselves of the
opportunity to define current and future genocides as such."
With this opinion, Steinbach and Schwabe are by no means alone
within their respective factions. When the request is discussed in
the parliamentary group sessions this coming Tuesday (21 April),
chairmen Volker Kauder (CDU) and Thomas Oppermann (SPD) will have to
reckon with substantial opposition.
"If we were to vote freely in the faction, independent of diplomatic
considerations, the genocide would be defined as such," Schwabe
said assuredly.
At the latest, pressure has been mounting in the centre-right alliance
since last weekend, when Pope Francis decried the genocide as the
first of the 20th century, and was consequently rebuked by the
Turkish government.
Central Council of Jews: Germany has a special responsibility
On Wednesday (15 April) the Central Council of Jews in Germany left
little room for doubt regarding its position.
"100 years ago, over a million Armenians in the Ottoman Empire were
deported at the government's command. They were directly murdered
or starved and died of thirst in the desert," the organisation's
president, Josef Schuster, told Tagesspiegel.
"This terrible event should be called what it was: a genocide," he
argued. As a result, Schuster sees the German government as having
a special responsibility, because German officers were among the
accessories and accomplices.
"Later, Hitler virtually used the Armenian Genocide as a model for
the extermination of the Jews," Schuster said.
Armenian sources indicate that 1.5 million people fell victim to the
genocide. Among historians, it has long been undisputed that the 1915
atrocities of the Ottoman Empire should be recognised as genocide.
More than a dozen countries including France, Switzerland and the
Netherlands define the displacement, rape and massacres that took
place as genocide. The United Nations and the European Parliament
also share this view.
The 100th anniversary of the start of these crimes is a significant
opportunity to process the past, a resolution from Wednesday evening
indicated.
Meanwhile, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has for years
rejected the accusation that a genocide took place in Armenia. Even
now he emphasised, "There is no black spot of genocide on our country."
Source: Tagesspiegel
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress