Turkey is not happy that the German parliament is about to vote to recognize the Armenian genocide of 1915 at the hands of the Ottoman Empire, warning of worse relations if go through with it. But despite this the German parliament is going ahead with the vote and they have Merkel’s blessing:
DAILY SABAH – German Chancellor Angela Merkel agrees with her Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party that the Armenian resolution should pass in parliament but will not attend the session, her spokeswoman said on Wednesday.
“She told me this morning that she sides with her parliamentary group,” her spokeswoman, Christiane Wirtz, told journalists when asked if Merkel signaled her approval of the Armenian genocide resolution during a party meeting on Wednesday.
As German parliament is set to vote on a controversial resolution to recognize the Armenian genocide, Ankara has made its dissatisfaction known and predicts that bilateral relations will worsen as a result.
Ankara does not want to see relations with Berlin damaged, but they will if German parliament votes to recognize the mass deaths of Ottoman Armenians in 1915 as genocide, Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım said Wednesday.
The new Turkish PM calls the vote ‘nonsense’ and says the genocide of the Armenian Christians was just an ‘ordinary event’ that might have taken place during war:
TURKISH MINUTE – PM Yıldırım was asked about the German parliament’s voting on a resolution that labels the killings of Armenians a “genocide” during a press conference he held before his first official visit to Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC) as the prime minister.
Emphasizing that the voting expected to be taken by German parliament on Thursday is “nonsense,” Yıldırım said: “[Armenian killings] is an ordinary event that might have taken place under war circumstances in 1915 and it has no rhyme or reason. Those who try to impute this event to Turkey have no good intentions.”
This issue is so important to Turkey that Erdogan, the new de facto Sultan, called Merkel himself yesterday warning Germany not to go through with the vote:
HURRIYET – In a phone conversation with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on May 31, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan raised concerns about a draft bill in the German Parliament to recognize the 1915 killings of Ottoman Armenians as genocide.
The bill is due to be voted at parliament on June 2, and Erdoğan warned of negative effects on “economic, political and military” relations between Turkey and Germany if it is passed.
“I think all this will be considered,” he said during a press briefing on May 31, declining to comment further on a “decision that has not been made yet.”
Erdoğan recalled that there are 3 million Turkish-origin citizens living in Germany and bilateral relations are today at a very high level.
You know Erdogan is very unhappy that Merkel just gave the parliament her blessing. There’s no telling what he will do if they go through with the vote tomorrow.
In fact he’s still trying to stop the vote from happening. Turkey is now waging a campaign to influence actual members of the German parliament via their embassy in Berlin:
RT – Turkey is exerting its influence on members of the German parliament with a campaign run by the Turkish Embassy in Berlin. This is gross interference in German domestic affairs, says former German intelligence officer Rainer Rupp.
The message from Turkey’s President Erdogan is that if Germany adopts the Thursday’s resolution calling the killing of Armenians in 1915 ‘genocide’, relations between Ankara and Berlin could be seriously damaged.
The government in Berlin wants to adopt the resolution, entitled “Remembrance and Commemoration of the Genocide of Armenians and other Christian minorities in the years 1915 and 1916” this Thursday.
With all this pressure, I sincerely hope the German parliament doesn’t cancel the vote tomorrow and fold. This is something that should be done by every country all around the world. I for one can’t wait until we have a president willing to sign such a recognition from our own Congress.