FT: Bundestag's possible Genocide recognition set to enrage Erdogan

FT: Bundestag's possible Genocide recognition set to enrage Erdogan

PanARMENIAN.Net - Germany’s parliament is pressing ahead with a motion condemning the Armenian massacres by the Ottoman Turks during the WWI as genocide, in a move that will probably infuriate Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and threaten the fragile EU-Turkey deal on refugees, the Financial Times' Berlin correspondent Stefan Wagstyl said in an article.

The vote, scheduled for June 2, could further complicate the intensive efforts of Angela Merkel, German Chancellor, to placate Erdogan and persuade him to drop threats to scrap the refugee accord out of anger at what he sees as EU-based disrespect for Turkey.

The Bundestag has been discussing a possible genocide motion on the Armenian massacres since well before last year’s 100th anniversary of the killings, in which 1.5m Armenians died. But even after a passionate parliamentary debate in April 2015, Merkel’s government resisted efforts led by the opposition Green party to hold a formal vote.

However, the government decided last year it could no longer hold the line in the face of some politicians in the ruling conservative-social democrat coalition breaking ranks and a wave of explicit genocide declarations coming from elsewhere, including the Pope, Wagstyl says.

After negotiations with the Green party, party managers of the CDU/CSU and SPD have agreed to back a genocide motion. This means it is almost certain to be passed, the article suggests.

While the text has yet to be published, the agenda item already makes the intentions clear: “In remembrance and commemoration of the genocide of the Armenians and other Christian minorities in the Ottoman Empire 101 years ago.”

The long delay in the vote means it comes at an even more awkward time than a year ago, the article says.

However, Cem Özdemir, the Turkish-origin co-leader of the Greens, told Bild am Sonntag newspaper: “It can well be that there will be anger in Ankara. But the Bundestag is not letting itself be blackmailed by a despot like Mr Erdogan.”

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