VOTING OF RESOLUTION ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE TO TAKE PLACE IN
GERMAN BUNDESTAG JUN 16
YEREVAN, JUNE 15. ARMINFO. A without-debate voting of “The
Commemoration Day of Armenians on the occasion of the 90th
anniversary of April 24, 1915 massacres: Germany should contribute to
reconciliation of Turks and Armenians” draft resolution elaborated
by the CDU/CSU bloc will take place at the German Bundestag on June
16, at 12:00 at Berlin time, resolution’s co-author, chairman of
German-Caucasian parliamentary group of Bundestag Christoph Bergner
stated in an interview to ARMINFO.
In his words, events of 1915 have not been characterized in the
document as “genocide”, however, there is paragraph there saying that
international historians name it “Armenian Genocide”. To remind,
in his recent interview to ARMINFO Bergner noted that in spite of
importance of development and strengthening Turkish-German relations,
“we are convinced that Bundestag deputies will follow the voice of
their conscience when adopting decision on the draft resolution”. He
also noted that the adoption of the draft resolution stresses a big
responsibility rest at Kaiser Germany, as being a witness of events
in Ottoman Empire it did not prevent their realization.
In her turn, professor of Freie Berlin University Tessa Hoffman
noted earlier in an interview to ARMINFO that the initiators of the
draft resolution do not purpose an aim to condemn Turkey. They use
terms which German diplomats – witnesses of those events – had used
when describing Armenian Genocide. “However, I am not sure that the
words are chosen rightly as German ambassadors and advisers used very
clear language, despite the fact that “genocide” term had not been
used that time. They used “extirpation” and “annihilation” words,
whereas “assassinations” and “expatriation” are noted in the draft
resolution. International community should use the exact juridical
language to classify the events rightly. There is a big difference
between “expatriation” and “genocide” words”, she noted.
To note, the German Parliament will make the final decision on the
draft resolution on June 16 and, as Armenia’s ambassador to Germany
Karine Ghazinyan stated earlier, the proper decision of Bundestag
will be equal to recognition of Armenian Genocide of 1915 by Germany.