‘Genocide’ clashes
7DAYS, United Arab Emirates
June 16 2005
Germany’s parliament condemned yesterday the mass killing of Armenians
by Ottoman Turks 90 years ago, sparking an angry protest from
Ankara. In a vote shortly after Germany’s government and opposition
clashed over whether Turkey should join the European Union, all main
parties in the Bundestag joined forces to deplore what many historians
say amounted to genocide.
The resolution stopped short of calling the killings genocide, a
term Turkey rejects, but looks sure to test relations between Ankara
and Berlin, until now a key supporter of Turkish EU aspirations.
“This resolution is regretful and we strongly condemn it,” said the
Turkish Foreign Ministry in a statement.
It described the resolution as one-sided and “provocative” and said
it would hurt Turks’ feelings. It said German lawmakers had been
motivated by domestic politics and had ignored repeated warnings of
the harm the resolution would do to bilateral ties.
Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul told German journalists this
week that the resolution amounted to “a huge injustice towards Turkey
and Turks living in Germany”, the newspaper Rheinische Post reported.