Bundestag to debate 1915 Armenian massacre
Expatica, Netherlands
April 20 2005
20 April 2005
BERLIN – Germany’s parliament will on Thursday debate a resolution
on the “expulsion and massacres” of Armenians under the Ottoman
Turks in 1915 as part of ceremonies marking the 90th anniversary of
the killings.
The declaration says between 1.2 and 1.5 million Christian Armenians
died or were killed by the Moslem Turks during ‘planned’ deportations
during World War One.
Turkey’s government rejects this version of events and says far fewer
Armenians died during Ottoman deportations which it argues took place
under war conditions and due to an Armenian rebellion.
But this official Turkish view is rejected by the German Bundestag
resolution.
“Turkey denies up to this day that these events were planned and
that the deaths during expulsion treks and massacres by the Ottoman
Empire were desired,” says the text supported by Germany’s opposition
Christian Democratic alliance (CDU/CSU) which mainly opposes Turkish
European Union membership.
Nevertheless, the three-page resolution is careful not to use the word
‘genocide’ to describe these events.
A parliamentary official, speaking on the condition of anonymity,
said this was because the document was aimed at reconciliation between
Armenians and Turks.
“We want to build bridges – not slam the door shut,” said the official.
This approach contrasts with resolutions passed by at least 16 national
parliaments, including France and the Netherlands, which explicitly
define the killings as genocide.
The more cautious German approach was criticised by the Society for
Threatened Peoples, a Goettingen-based NGO which serves as a consultant
to the United Nations and the Council of Europe.
“Those who deny the Holocaust was genocide are threatened with
prison terms in Germany,” said the Society in a statement, adding:
“The German parliament loses all credibility if it does not have the
public courage to label the destruction of the Armenians genocide.”
Under German law it is a crime to deny the Holocaust in which 6
million Jews were murdered.
There are a number of reasons for caution in Berlin over the Armenians.
Germany has about 2.5 million resident Turks, compared to an Armenian
minority of 40,000. Many Turks in Germany are poorly integrated and
officials are nervous about divisive issues such as the Armenian past.
Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder is a staunch backer of Turkish EU
membership and the Society for Threatened Peoples cynically noted
his planned visit next month to Turkey “could not have played any
role in the decision” not to recognise the genocide.
Schroeder will visit Ankara and Istanbul for talks with Turkish
political and business leaders on 3 and 4 May.
Turkey’s ambassador to Germany, Mehmet Ali Irtemcelik, denounced the
Bundestag resolution and insisted there had never been an Armenian
genocide.
The resolution contains “countless factual errors” and has been
written “in agreement with propaganda efforts of fanatic Armenians,”
said Irtemcelik in an interview with Hurriyet newspaper provided by
the Turkish embassy in Berlin.
“Its goal is to defame Turkish history … and poison ties between
Turkey and the European Union,” said the ambassador.
Turkey is due to start membership negotiations with the EU in October
but EU leaders say accession talks – if successful – will take up to
15 years.
Armenians all over the world will on 24 April mark the 90th anniversary
of the start of what most international historians describe as a
genocide lasting from 1915 to 1923 which left up to 1.5 million
people dead.