German parliament passes Armenian genocide motion
ddp news agency, Berlin
16 Jun 05
Berlin: Just over 90 years after the beginning of the expulsions and
massacres of Armenians in Turkey in April 1915, the Bundestag has
unanimously called for the “sincere reappraisal” of what happened in
the Ottoman Empire. Without a debate, parliament adopted a joint motion
by all parliamentary groups in Berlin on Thursday [16 June], focusing
on the “nearly complete extermination of the Armenians in Anatolia”.
The Bundestag also pointed out the “inglorious role of the German
Reich”, which, in spite of manifold information on the “organized
expulsion and extermination of Armenians did not even try to stop
the atrocities”. Yet the term “genocide” was not used in the actual
motion but only in the pertaining explanation, in which the Social
Democratic Party of Germany, the Christian Democratic Union/Christian
Social Union, the Greens, and the Free Democratic Party point out
that over 1 million Armenians were killed in the deportations and
mass murders, according to calculations by independent experts.
“Numerous independent historians, parliaments, and international
organizations have described the expulsion and the extermination of
the Armenians as genocide,” the explanation reads.
Yet the dimension of the massacres and expulsions continues to be
played down and to be largely denied in Turkey, the four Bundestag
groups criticized in the explanation, stressing: “This Turkish position
conflicts with the idea of reconciliation that guides the community
of values of the EU.” The Bundestag resolution calls on the Federal
Government “to ensure that the Turkish parliament, government, and
society reappraise their role towards the Armenian people in the past
and present without prejudice.”