Turkey rapped over massacres: German parliamentary motion critical of refusal to recognize killing of Armenians
By Friederike Peters
Windsor Star (Ontario)
June 17, 2005 Friday
Final Edition
Germany’s lower house of parliament Thursday approved a motion
criticizing Turkey for failing to recognize that the Turkish Ottoman
Empire was involved in the massacres of hundreds of thousands of
Armenians in 1915.
The extent of the massacres and deportations of Armenians is still
being played down or denied by the modern Turkish government,
contradicting the idea of reconciliation promoted by the European
Union, according to the motion, which was submitted by all
parliamentary groups. It stopped short of describing the killings
as genocide.
“The lower house of parliament regrets that an extensive discussion
of events in the then Ottoman Empire still is not possible and that
academics and writers who want to look into this part of Turkish
history are being prosecuted and defamed,” the motion said.
Turkey denies allegations that the Ottoman Empire’s treatment of its
Armenian subjects in 1915 was a planned genocide, arguing that an
Armenian rebellion caused clashes and the resulting deaths.
The European Union, with which Turkey is due to start membership talks
Oct. 3, has said the dispute with Armenia clouds Turkey’s bid to join.
“It’s not possible to accept the notion of ‘genocide’ without relying
on documents and information,” Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan said at a news conference in Beirut, Lebanon today.
“We are proud of our history. Therefore we cannot stand by while this
issue is being used as a political tool, as free political capital
by lobby groups.”
Turkey should take responsibility for the deaths because the evidence
of genocide is “abundantly documented,” the Purdue University,
Indiana-based International Association of Genocide Scholars said in
a letter to Erdogan on April 6.
During a visit to Turkey on May 4, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder
urged the Armenian government to accept a proposal by Turkey that
scholars from both countries study the genocide claims.
More than one million Armenians died in massacres, on death marches
through the Syrian desert or in camps, the German motion said.
Acknowledging the former injustice would help normalize the
relationship between Armenia and Turkey and stabilize the Caucasus
region, it said.
The lawmakers said Turkey is showing some positive signs that it
is beginning to address the issue, such as an invitation to Turks
of Armenian origin by the Turkish National Assembly to talk about
the crimes, an exchange of documents between Turkish and Armenian
historians and Erdogan opening the first Armenian museum in Istanbul.
Still, they criticized the cancellation by the Turkish Justice
Ministry of a conference on the subject by Turkish academics that
had been due to take place in May.
– The motion also expressed regret that the German government of
the time didn’t act to prevent the killings even though it was aware
of what was happening. Germany and Turkey were allies in the First
World War.