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GERMANY PLANS TO RECOGNIZE ARMENIAN MASSACRE IN 1915 AS GENOCIDE
Bloomberg
April 20 2015
by Stefan Nicola
April 20, 2015
A picture released by the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute dated
1915 purportedly shows soldiers standing over skulls of victims from
the Armenian village of Sheyxalan in the Mush valley, on the Caucasus
front during the First World War. A hundred years after an estimated
million members of the empire's Christian minority were forced from
their homes on death marches by Turkish forces during World War I,
Germany is still struggling to come to terms with its role in enabling
the massacres that many European governments, including Pope Francis,
call the first genocide of the twentieth century. Source: STR/AFP
via Getty Images
Germany plans for the first time to officially recognize the killing
of hundreds of thousands of Armenians by the Turkish regime 100 years
ago as genocide.
Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition will vote on April 24 to label the
murders as genocide as defined by the United Nations in 1948. The lower
house vote is on the same day as leaders meet in the Armenian capital
of Yerevan to commemorate the massacre that began in April 1915.
Germany's ruling parties plan in their resolution to "find a
formulation which states the fact that a genocide took place in
Turkey," Franz Josef Jung, deputy faction leader of Merkel's Christian
Democrats, said in a statement Monday.
Germany has been under pressure from some of its European partners
to follow their example and more fully recognize the depth of the
Armenian tragedy. Germany maintains that the onus is on Turkey to
publicly come to terms with its past actions, as Germany did with
the Holocaust. Turkey recognizes the killings, while rejecting the
genocide label.
While it's "very important" that Turks and Armenians reconcile over
the killings, "such a coming to terms with the past can't be forced
on someone from abroad -- it's a domestic issue," Christiane Wirtz,
a government spokeswoman, told reporters last week.
Merkel's government faces a difficult balancing act in voting on the
measure, while trying to not further antagonize Turkey. Germany is
Turkey's biggest trading partner in the European Union, its biggest
foreign investor and home to the largest group of Turks outside
the country.
Yerevan Event
France, Russia, Greece, Sweden and the Netherlands are among countries
that recognize the killings as genocide and will be sending senior
representatives to Yerevan on Friday. Merkel won't attend, and instead
will send a junior foreign minister in her place.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has announced he will be
holding his own ceremony on the same day to mark the 1915 Gallipoli
campaign, even though the World War I battle is normally observed on
a different date.
The European Parliament will vote Wednesday on a resolution urging
Turkey "to come to terms with its past" and to recognize the scale
of its deed, a measure that Erdogan says he plans to ignore.
Last year, Turkey offered its first-ever condolences over mass
deportations that preceded the Armenian deaths. Armenia estimates
1.5 million ethnic Armenians were killed from 1915 to 1923. Turkey
says the figure is inflated and that killings of Armenians took place
during clashes in which thousands of Turks also died.
The fate of the Armenians "exemplifies the history of mass
extermination, ethnic cleansing, expulsion and genocide that
characterizes the 20th century in such a terrible way," Jung said in
his statement.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-04-20/germany-plans-to-recognize-armenian-massacre-in-1915-as-genocide
Bloomberg
April 20 2015
by Stefan Nicola
April 20, 2015
A picture released by the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute dated
1915 purportedly shows soldiers standing over skulls of victims from
the Armenian village of Sheyxalan in the Mush valley, on the Caucasus
front during the First World War. A hundred years after an estimated
million members of the empire's Christian minority were forced from
their homes on death marches by Turkish forces during World War I,
Germany is still struggling to come to terms with its role in enabling
the massacres that many European governments, including Pope Francis,
call the first genocide of the twentieth century. Source: STR/AFP
via Getty Images
Germany plans for the first time to officially recognize the killing
of hundreds of thousands of Armenians by the Turkish regime 100 years
ago as genocide.
Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition will vote on April 24 to label the
murders as genocide as defined by the United Nations in 1948. The lower
house vote is on the same day as leaders meet in the Armenian capital
of Yerevan to commemorate the massacre that began in April 1915.
Germany's ruling parties plan in their resolution to "find a
formulation which states the fact that a genocide took place in
Turkey," Franz Josef Jung, deputy faction leader of Merkel's Christian
Democrats, said in a statement Monday.
Germany has been under pressure from some of its European partners
to follow their example and more fully recognize the depth of the
Armenian tragedy. Germany maintains that the onus is on Turkey to
publicly come to terms with its past actions, as Germany did with
the Holocaust. Turkey recognizes the killings, while rejecting the
genocide label.
While it's "very important" that Turks and Armenians reconcile over
the killings, "such a coming to terms with the past can't be forced
on someone from abroad -- it's a domestic issue," Christiane Wirtz,
a government spokeswoman, told reporters last week.
Merkel's government faces a difficult balancing act in voting on the
measure, while trying to not further antagonize Turkey. Germany is
Turkey's biggest trading partner in the European Union, its biggest
foreign investor and home to the largest group of Turks outside
the country.
Yerevan Event
France, Russia, Greece, Sweden and the Netherlands are among countries
that recognize the killings as genocide and will be sending senior
representatives to Yerevan on Friday. Merkel won't attend, and instead
will send a junior foreign minister in her place.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has announced he will be
holding his own ceremony on the same day to mark the 1915 Gallipoli
campaign, even though the World War I battle is normally observed on
a different date.
The European Parliament will vote Wednesday on a resolution urging
Turkey "to come to terms with its past" and to recognize the scale
of its deed, a measure that Erdogan says he plans to ignore.
Last year, Turkey offered its first-ever condolences over mass
deportations that preceded the Armenian deaths. Armenia estimates
1.5 million ethnic Armenians were killed from 1915 to 1923. Turkey
says the figure is inflated and that killings of Armenians took place
during clashes in which thousands of Turks also died.
The fate of the Armenians "exemplifies the history of mass
extermination, ethnic cleansing, expulsion and genocide that
characterizes the 20th century in such a terrible way," Jung said in
his statement.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-04-20/germany-plans-to-recognize-armenian-massacre-in-1915-as-genocide