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German pparliament condemns 1915 killings of Armenians

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  • German pparliament condemns 1915 killings of Armenians

    German parlt condemns 1915 killings of Armenians
    By Nick Antonovics

    Reuters, UK
    June 16 2005

    BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany's parliament condemned on Thursday the
    mass killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks 90 years ago, sparking an
    angry protest from Ankara.

    Voting shortly after the government and opposition clashed over
    whether Turkey should join the European Union, all main parties in
    the Bundestag joined in deploring what many historians say amounted
    to genocide.

    The resolution stopped short of calling the killings genocide, a term
    Turkey rejects, but it will test relations between Ankara and Berlin,
    a staunch supporter of Turkish EU aspirations.

    "This resolution is regrettable 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.

    Turkey denies the claims that 1.5 million Armenians were killed in a
    systematic genocide between 1915 and 1923 as the multi-ethnic Ottoman
    Empire collapsed.

    It accepts hundreds of thousands of Armenians were killed but says
    even more Turks died in a partisan conflict in which many Armenians
    backed invading Russian troops.

    TURKEY SAYS "HUGE INJUSTICE"

    Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul told German reporters this
    week that the resolution amounted to "a huge injustice toward Turkey
    and Turks living in Germany," the German newspaper Rheinische Post
    reported on Thursday.

    Teaching in German schools about the "destruction" of Armenians as
    proposed by the resolution would create hostility against Turks among
    German youth, the Turkish foreign ministry statement said.

    Around 2 million Turks live in Germany. A Berlin police spokesman
    said a demonstration was planned in front of the Armenian embassy in
    Berlin on Saturday.

    The resolution urged Turkey to set up an independent committee
    of Turkish, Armenian and international historians to document what
    happened and to hold a conference in Istanbul -- postponed last month
    -- to examine the issue. The Turkish foreign ministry said Turkey
    had opened its archives to historians and proposed establishment
    of a joint commission between Turkey and Armenia to investigate
    Turkish-Armenian relations during the Ottoman Empire.

    The resolution also condemned the German government of the time for
    failing to try to stop the killings despite having "information about
    the organized expulsion and extermination of Armenians."

    Germany was an ally of the Ottoman Empire during World War One,
    when the massacres took place.

    "The German parliament is well aware from its own experience how
    hard it is for all peoples to deal with the dark side of their past,"
    the resolution said in a reference to Germany's own Nazi regime and
    its murder of millions of Jews.
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