Author: Khondkarian Raffi

The city council of Cologne city in Germany has decided to remove the monument to the Armenian genocide in the city. The city council will now hold a meeting on 7th December 2023 to ponder a thought upon erecting a new memorial to “commemorate the victims of oppression, racism, violence and human rights violations”. 

The city council succumbed to the pressure of 60,000 Turkish Muslim migrants living in the city of a million people. Turkish Muslims deny the genocide of Armenian Christians by Turkey which took place from 1915 to 1918. The conflict still goes on. Notably, there are only 6,000 Armenians in Cologne.

This monument was first erected in 2018 to mark the centenary year of the Armenian genocide. It was initially installed on the left bank of the Hohenzollern Bridge, opposite the equestrian statue of Kaiser Wilhelm II. Unfortunately, it was dismantled in May 2022 and hasn’t yet found a permanent location. It faced vehement opposition from Turkish Muslims right from the inauguration.

The city had previously opted to dismantle the statue, citing reasons such as the planned construction of a cycle path or concerns about potential “social upheaval.” It was removed and restored multiple times before the final decision of the city council came after a recent demonstration by Turkish Muslims in Germany at the end of October 2023.

The steel sculpture stands at a height of approximately 1.80 meters. At the pinnacle of the three-sided pyramid, there is a bronze pomegranate featuring a notch, serving as a poignant symbol for the Armenian genocide. The inscription, titled “This Pain Affects Us All,” is eloquently expressed in Armenian, German, Turkish, and English.

Erected in April 2018 by the Cologne initiative “Remembering Genocide,” the monument commemorated the Armenian Genocide during World War I (1915-1918). It aimed to raise awareness about the genocide and acknowledge the responsibility of the Ottoman Empire. It also included information about the systematic displacement, deportation, and murder of over a million Armenian women, men, and children. The monument served as a powerful symbol of remembrance and a call for the prevention of future genocides.

Cologne’s mayor Reker justified the decision to remove this memorial by saying that the city needs to consider the “diverse interests of our pluralistic urban society”. The Turkish Muslims in Cologne staged protests against this memorial in October.

The political influence exerted by Turkish Muslims in Germany to achieve its objectives is not a new thing. An instance of this was observed in 2005 when, following the intervention of Turkish diplomats, Brandenburg removed the subject of the Armenian genocide from its curriculum. In 2011, the University of Stuttgart, citing Turkish “protests from Berlin,” declined to permit a lecture on the genocide, asserting a decision to “remain neutral.”

In 2014, protests emerged against a play by Edgar Hilsenrath titled “Das Märchen vom letzten Gedanken,” which addresses the Armenian genocide. In response, the theatre in Constance removed the event poster, and before each performance, a statement from the Turkish consul was read out. The premiere had to be conducted under police protection due to the heightened tensions.

The Armenian Genocide, a series of systemic killings of the minority population of Christians during the Ottoman Muslim rule in the region of Armenia, is one of the most horrific state-sponsored genocidal events of the 20th century.

Usually, the Armenian Genocide refers to a series of massacres of the Armenian Christian population carried out by officials of the Ottoman Empire from 1915 onwards. The genocide began in 1915 and lasted until 1923, killing an estimated 1.5 million Armenian Christians, among other minority Christian groups.

Even years before 1915, a tragic event in Adana in April 1909 displays how the Ottoman Empire was prejudiced against the Christians under their rule and how an entire population was branded the enemy of the state, and subjected to tragic, horrific murder on an enormous scale. Details of the Armenian genocide can be read here.

Regional security in the South Caucasus was discussed on Wednesday in a meeting between the Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili and Armen Grigoryan, the Secretary of the Security Council of Armenia, the legislative body said.

The officials highlighted “intensive development” of relations between the two countries, with Grigoryan congratulating Georgia on receiving the positive recommendation for the country to be granted the European Union membership candidate status.

The meeting also discussed the current state of the region and emphasised the importance of reaching a peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan, with Papuashvili noting Georgia would “always be ready” to promote regional peace.

The parties also pointed out the “growing importance” of the Middle Corridor – a multimodal transport corridor connecting China to Europe through the South Caucasus – and opportunities for economic diversification.

Azerbaijan continues to refuse to attend peace talks with Armenia, citing what it calls the biased approach of Western mediating countries. This time it was the U.S. that displeased Azerbaijan. 

On November 16, Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry put out a statement announcing the country's decision not to attend a meeting of the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers in Washington scheduled for four days later.

The snub was in large part a response to U.S. Assistant Secretary of State James O'Brien's testimony the previous day at a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing titled "The Future of Nagorno-Karabakh." He told the committee that the U.S. was working on establishing a "comprehensive, thorough and transparent" record of what happened in the formerly Armenian-populated enclave before and during Azerbaijan's September military takeover. 

"We have commissioned independent investigators, we have our own investigators working in the field. There is information available from international non-governmental organizations and other investigators. And as we develop the record of what happened, we will be completely open about what we are finding. I can't put a timeline on this investigation, but we will inform you as we go forward," he said. 

O'Brien went on to express support for Armenia, which has been attempting a pivot away from Russia and is scrambling to accommodate the 100,000-some people displaced from Nagorno-Karabakh in September. 

"I am very impressed by the Armenian government's commitment to reforms and diversifying the relationships that it has – economic, political, energy and security – particularly in the Trans-Atlantic community," he said. "And I think we owe it to the people of Armenia to help them through this difficult situation so that those choices they have made very bravely are able to help them to make them have a more secure, stable and prosperous future." 

O'Brien also said that the U.S. had canceled high-level bilateral meetings and engagements with Azerbaijan (without specifying exactly when) and would keep urging Baku to "facilitate the return of Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians who may wish to go back to their homes or visit cultural sites in the region, as well as restore unimpeded commercial, humanitarian, and pedestrian traffic to the region."

In its statement the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry called the hearing "a blow to the Azerbaijan-U.S. relations in bilateral and multilateral formats."

"The groundless accusations voiced against Azerbaijan are irrelevant and undermine peace and security in the region," the statement read. 

On the day of the hearing, the U.S. Senate also adopted a bill titled "Armenian Protection Act of 2023". If it becomes law, the bill will suspend all military aid to Azerbaijan by repealing the Freedom Support Act Section 907 waiver authority for the Administration with respect to assistance to Azerbaijan for the years 2024 and 2025.

On that front, Azerbaijan's diplomatic body argued that the U.S. was repeating "the same mistake" it made in 1992, when Azerbaijan was sanctioned with this amendment, "despite being a state who faced aggression and occupation" at the hands of Armenian forces.

Also on November 16, the U.S. reaffirmed its support for Armenia-Azerbaijan rapprochement irrespective of who mediates. "We would encourage the two parties to engage in those talks, whether they are here, whether they are somewhere else, and that'll continue to be our policy," spokesperson of the U.S. State Department Matthew Miller told a briefing.

Baku for its part does not seem interested in the U.S. having an active role in those talks. For some months now, it has been expressing distaste with Western-brokered negotiations and instead shown a preference for regional mediators like Russia, Turkey, and Iran. 

And its latest statement, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry warned that, "[S]uch a unilateral approach by the United States could lead to the loss of the mediation role of the United States."