Zaman, Turkey
June 16 2005

Germany to Approve ‘Armenian Genocide’ Resolution
By Suleyman Bag, Hakki Tas
Published: Thursday 16, 2005
zaman.com

Today the German federal parliament, The Bundestag, is expected to
approve a draft resolution on the alleged Armenian genocide prepared
by the German main opposition parties, Christian Democratic Union
(CDU) and Christian Social Union (CSU).

The draft acquired by Zaman does not itself determine the incidents
occurred during the Ottoman period as “genocide”, but emphasis is
made that many independent historians, parliaments and international
organizations determine the Armenian expulsion and murder as
“genocide”. All political parties in Bundestag agreed to approve the
final version of the draft without any discussion, according to German
newspaper Die Welt. Although the Armenian exchange policy is not termed
“genocide” in the main body of the draft, the justification section
states that many independent historians, parliament and international
organizations define the forceful expulsion of the Armenians and
their annihilation as genocide.

Opening the borders between Turkey and Armenia and launching diplomatic
relations would make positive contributions for developing bilateral
relations according to the draft. One key sentence saying, “The
incident is judged to have caused the total termination of almost
all Armenians in Anatolia” grab the attention. Diplomatic sources
told Zaman that the damage by such an approval on Turkish-German
relations was expressed to top-level German officials. Turkey’s unease
was conveyed to German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder by the Turkish
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul
during the Chancellor’s visit to Turkey and the Turkish Ambassador
in Germany Mehmet Ali Irtemcelik has reiterated the discomfort as
well, a high level diplomatic source explained. Due to the internal
political balances, Ankara thinks that biased attitudes have been
adopted against Turkey and calls for a change in the draft.