4 minute read
YEREVAN, JUNE 1, ARMENPRESS. Turkish political circles continue to make statements over the adoption of the Armenian Genocide resolution which is going to be held in the German Bundestag on June 2. This time new Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim issued a statement over this issue, “Armenpress” reports, “Agos” informs.
Yildirim made his first visit abroad to the North Cyprus, and prior to his visit he said to journalists “this voting in Bundestag is nonsense”.
“It is a common incident that happened in every country and it happened in 1915 in Turkey, under the conditions of World War I”, the Prime Minister said.
“We have nothing to hide about this issue and we say that everything should be investigated by historians. This shouldn't be used as a political instrument”, Yildirim stated.
He said Bundestag voting can harm the relations with Germany. “Our president called Merkel and expressed our concerns and disquiet. Merkel also called me after I took the chair. I said to her that 3 million Turks living in Germany is the strongest link between Germany and Turkey. I hope that German decision makers won't ignore the will of 3 millions voters. We don't want this resolution to be passed. However, what happens if it passes? Nothing. Similar resolutions had been passed in different countries. We deem it null, but it shouldn't be passed anyway”, Yildirim stated.
The draft resolution of the Armenian Genocide will be discussed in the German Bundestag on June 2.
In 2005, Germany's parliament adopted a resolution recognizing the Armenian massacres, deportations and ethnic cleanings.However, in the Bundestag’s decision, the term Armenian Genocide was avoided, and instead "massacres of Armenians" was used.
On April 24, before the Bundestag hearings, Germany's Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier announced that he supports those MPs, who are in favor of calling the mass killings of Armenians “Genocide”. On April 23, during the ceremony in the Berlin Cathedral dedicated to the memory of the Armenian Genocide, German President Joachim Gauck used the term “Genocide” in his speech.
In March of 2015, the President of the German Parliament Norbert Lammert said: "what happened in the Ottoman Empire during the First World War in front of the whole world, was genocide. And it was not the last genocide of the 20th century”. During the session the leaders of various party fractions also came with their pro-Armenian statements admitting what had happened. However, the discussion of the resolution indefinitely postponed.
The heated discussion of the Armenian Genocide on February 25 at Bundestag did not terminate with voting in 2016.