German Parliament Genocide Resolution Historic Mistake: Turkey

Protesters hold a giant flag of Turkey in front of the Brandenburg gate in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, June 1, 2016, as they demonstrate against a resolution of the German federal parliament on the Armenian Genocide a century ago. (Photo: AP)

Turkey, on Thursday, slammed, as “null and void” and called the German parliament’s resolution recognising the World War I killings of Armenians by Ottoman forces as genocide, a “historic mistake”.

“The German parliament’s recognition of ‘distorted and groundless’ allegations as ‘genocide’ is a historic mistake,” Deputy Prime Minister and government spokesman Numan Kurtulmus said on his official Twitter account, calling the resolution “null and void.”

German lawmakers overwhelmingly adopted the resolution, defying Turkey’s warnings that the vote could severely damage bilateral ties.

Kurtulmus said the decision was not beneficial for friendly relations between Turkey and Germany.

This is an issue that needs to be finalised not by politicians or parliaments but by scientists and historians. As Turkey, we will give an appropriate response to this decision on every level.

Armenia has long sought international recognition of the term “genocide” for the killings and mass deportations that took place from 1915.

But Ankara rejects the use of the term to describe the World War I-era killings and argues that it was a collective tragedy in which equal numbers of Turks and Armenians died.

(Story published in an arrangement between PTI and AFP.)