Germany’s president recognizes Armenian killings in 1915 as genocide
24.04.2015,
09:39
In a first for a German official, President Joachim Gauck called the campaign against Armenians a planned crime that meets the definition of genocide, Bloomberg reported.
YEREVAN, April 24. /ARKA/. In a first for a German official, President Joachim Gauck called the campaign against Armenians a planned crime that meets the definition of genocide, Bloomberg reported.
“The fate of the Armenians is an example of the history of mass exterminations, ethnic cleansing, deportations and, yes, the genocides that left such a terrible mark on the 20th century,” Gauck said in an advance copy of a speech at the Berlin Cathedral on Thursday.
"In this case, we Germans must still come to terms with the past, as to whether there is in fact a shared responsibility, possibly even complicity, in the genocide of the Armenians," said Gauck, adding that German armed forces were involved in planning and even implementing deportations. .
The Armenian Genocide was the first genocide of the twentieth century. According to Armenian and many other historians, up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed starting in 1915 in a systematic campaign by the government of Turkey.
Turkey has been denying it for decades.
The Armenian Genocide was recognized by tens of countries. The first was Uruguay that did so in 1965. Other nations are Russia, France, Italy, Germany, Holland, Belgium, Poland, Lithuania, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland, Greece, Cyprus, Lebanon, Canada, Venezuela, Argentina, 43 U.S. states. It was recognized also by the Vatican, the European Parliament, the World Council of Churches and other international organizations. –0--
