Yerevan welcomes German leaders for describing 1915 massacres of Armenians as genocide

YEREVAN, April 24. / ARKA /. The official Yerevan has lauded today German President Joachim Gauck for using the word ‘genocide’ to refer to the massacre of 1.5 million Armenians by the government of Ottoman Turkey in 1915-1923.

Speaking at a church service in Berlin, President Gauck said: "The fate of the Armenians stands as exemplary in the history of mass exterminations, ethnic cleansing, deportations and yes, genocide, which marked the 20th Century in such a terrible way."  He described the 1915 atrocity as "planned and systematic mass murder". 

Gauck added that Germans also bore some responsibility "and in some cases complicity" concerning the "genocide of the Armenians". 

Germany was an ally of the Ottoman Empire during World War One. He said Germany not only knew about the determination to exterminate the Armenians, but German soldiers "were also involved in the planning and, partly, in the execution of the expulsions".

"With this step, Germany pays tribute to Armenians innocently killed in the Ottoman Empire under the guise of the First World War," Nalbandian is quoted as saying by the press office of the Armenian ministry of foreign affairs.

Nalbandian said also that Gauck’s statement is important in terms of international recognition and condemnation of the Armenian Genocide and is a valuable contribution to the combined efforts of the international community's efforts to prevent genocide and crimes against humanity.

Joachim Gauck was followed by Germany's parliamentary speaker Norbert Lammert who said the slaughter of Armenians in Turkey was genocide, adding that Germany's own past made it important to speak out. 

"We Germans cannot lecture anyone about dealing with their past, but we can through our own experiences encourage others to confront their history, even when it hurts," he said.

The presidents of Russia, France, Serbia and Cyprus, and other dignitaries assembled at the Tsitsernakaberd memorial complex today in the Armenian capital, Yerevan to commemorate the massacre 100 years ago of 1.5 million Armenians by Ottoman Turks.

Each leader walked along the memorial with a single yellow rose and put it into the centre of a wreath resembling a forget-me-not, a flower that was made the symbol of the commemoration.

The 1.5 million Armenians massacred by Ottoman forces in the genocide that lasted from 1915 to 1923 were canonized yesterday evening in a two-hour ceremony by the Armenian Apostolic Church.

“During the dire years of the genocide of the Armenians, millions of our people were uprooted and massacred in a premeditated manner, passed through fire and sword, tasted the bitter fruits of torture and sorrow," Catholicos of All Armenians, Karekin II, said at the ceremony outside Armenia's main Etchmiadzin Cathedral.-0-