A year ago, Germany’s Green Party wanted to hold a vote on responsibility for the Ottoman massacres, a systematic expulsion and annihilation of over 1 million ethnic Armenians in 1915.
Germany delayed the vote, not wanting to upset Turkey. Instead, Germany held the vote today, upsetting Turkey much more.
After a near-unanimous vote, Turkey recalled its ambassador to Germany calling the vote, “null and void”.
Turkish Protest in Berlin
Germany Angers Turkey with Genocide Vote
Please consider Germany Angers Turkey with Genocide Vote.
Germany’s parliament condemned the Ottoman massacres of ethnic Armenians as genocide on Thursday in a vote that could damage ties with Turkey and complicate handling of Europe’s migrant crisis.
MPs voted almost unanimously for the motion despite the reservations of the government which battled for months for a delay for fear of the reaction of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s president, who is often criticised for authoritarianism.
Ankara immediately recalled its ambassador for consultations in response to what the Turkish government described as a “null and void” vote.
Mevlut Cavusoglu, foreign minister, said on Twitter: “The way to close dark pages in [Germany’s] own history is not to defame the history of other countries with irresponsible and baseless parliament decisions.”
Mr Erdogan warned this week that passing the resolution would harm “all diplomatic, economic, trade, political, military and Nato relations”. He reacted to the vote by warning of a “serious impact on bilateral relations”, adding that Turkey would consider further actions soon.
Ahead of the vote, Binali Yildirim, Turkey’s prime minister, described the debate as a “test of friendship”. The dispute also comes in the wake of a fragile EU-Turkey deal championed by Ms Merkel that has so far halted refugee flows across the Aegean.
That pact could collapse because Mr Erdogan’s goal of visa-free travel for 80m Turks is mired in EU politics and unlikely to be delivered before October.
The diplomatic arguments have resounded around Germany, prompting pro-Ankara demonstrations from the large ethnic Turkish community, and even death threats to MPs.
More than 20 countries, including France and Russia, as well as Pope Francis, recognize the 1915 killings as genocide.
The US has not, partly out of concern at alienating Turkey, a Nato ally and key Middle East partner.
Lie of the Day
German chancellor Angela Merkel immediately sought to limit the damage, saying ties with Turkey were “broad and strong”.
As proof of the “strength” of the relationship, Turkey pulled its ambassador and Erdogan is “considering actions”.
The “test of friendship” clearly failed.
Will Turkey cancel its refugee agreement with the EU?
If so, that would be a positive outcome for Europe, albeit one that would cause a lot of short term pain.
The benefit is the EU would have to come up with a real solution to the refugee mess rather than making a bargain with the devil.
Mike “Mish” Shedlock
I know one corporation that blacklists Turkey and California. They won’t do business either place.
Why would they blacklist California? What does that have to do with Turkey?
@Adam Price, they grow millions of turkeys in California.
“I did not have sex with that woman, Ms. Lewinski”. And don’t bring it or any other such things up again. This is old news.
Well, I think we can all agree that by now the German people have already “unfriended” Merkel and Erdogan. If it were up to me, I start a covert effort to ship arms and ammo to the people and tke care of the situation in short order.
When Germany criticizes someone for genocide it’s coming from the subject matter expert! Talk about the pot calling the kettle black!
Germany acknowledges their grievous mistake; Turkey does not.
And never will, but in the background, Allah has already absolved them.
Germany had no choice but to recognize – it lost and had it rubbed in.
Maybe Germans would have recognized it either way eventually, who knows.
Turkey will never change their stance on that irrelevant 101+ year old issue which is of absolutely no consequence whatsoever to anyone except a few whining Armenians that nobody cares about at all.
Turkey will never take responsibility for the Armenian genocide (or the Greek one that came a few years later) with Tayyip Erdoğan as their leader.
They will never make anything “right” about it (returning property, having a national memorial, reopening churches, teaching about it in schools, etc.)
For to do so would question islam and the way muslims are permitted to rule over infidels by the koran.
For contrast.
Modern Turkey came into existence because it s founder (Mustafa Kemal Atatürk) rejected islam. Under the guise of “cleansing Islam of political interference”, the educational system was completely overhauled. Islamic education was banned in favor of secular, non-dogmatic schools. Religious endowments were seized and put under government control. Sufi lodges were forcefully shut down. All judges of islamic law in the country were immediately fired, as all Shari’ah courts were closed. Islamic dress was banned, the islamic call to prayer was made illegal and Friday became part of the work week. Atatürk even made latin letters to replace arabic letters.
Tayyip Erdoğan wants to bring back the “glory” of the islamic ottoman caliphate. He is a supporter of ISIS.
Nor should Turkey even discuss that irrelevant little matter that is over 101+ years old. It simply makes no difference whatsoever and needs to simply be buried in the past as it has no bearing whatsoever to important issues the world faces today. The world certainly has no interest at all in this matter and the Armenians have always been nothing but a bunch of bellicose and obnoxious whiners which is why the situation occurred in the first place 101+ years ago.
I am surprised no one has responded to your offensive statements on the Armenian genocide. You would think differently if your family had been among those killed.
Those who forget history are condemned to relive it.
I simply try to ignore people that express such views that are insulting to the extreme. Obviously there are people without compassion, knowledge of history and with no shame showing it to all.
The story get funnier and more tragic as it goes.
Nobody outside of Armenia gives the slightest bit of a hoot about this irrelevant old nonsense.
“Nobody outside of Armenia gives the slightest bit of a hoot about this irrelevant old nonsense.”
That is simply false, as proven by the German government vote.
When Trump is elected we will finally give the Turks what they deserve – a giant mushroom cloud over Istanbul! Let’s incinerate them!
Nope. Donald Trump is not a warmonger, and not even Turkey deserves that kind of behavior from the US or anyone else. Never wish ill on others.
Did you see what he said today? He was going to destroy the PGA and Mexico for moving their tournament to Mexico City. No, he’s not a warmonger? Why do you think Rush Limbaugh is one of his biggest fans? The US will end up in civil war and world war as a result of a Trump presidency. Which doesn’t bother me because the US has been a malevolent force for a long time. We may eventually end up with a military dictatorship after Trump is deposed in a coup.
There’s been a large population of Turks in Berlin for decades. Many Turk ‘gast arbeiters’ or ‘guest workers’ doing menial labor jobs. They occupy a district called “Kreuzberg” which has been referred to as Berlin’s ghetto. So this resolution will probably cause lots of internal conflict.
Will Rogers once said “Nothing makes a human madder than the truth. If there is not truth in it they laugh it off”.
Neither has Turkey recognized the regular genocides of the Ottoman Empire practiced during the 500 years occupation of Bulgaria and other Balkan’s christian countries:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batak_massacre
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_Uprising
And jee those english wikipedia pages screem for corrections, because they are hmm simply presenting too mildly the history …
So what? Why should they? Just about any war can be called “genocide.” What’s the point in all of this hatemongering these days, particularly by those stupid little people in Armenia which is an utterly irrelevant country?
Why you hate Armenians?
Is this all deliberate? What better way to crash a deal Merkel regrets getting involved in than to piss off the other side and let them withdraw. Think about it. Merkel saves face since Turkey backs out. Nobody has to admit that the old deal was a mistake since it is taken off of the table. The bad deal does not need to forced through against everyone’s wishes so nobody suffers the consequences. All that is needed is a little acting by Merkel as she feigns resistance to the vote publicly but privately lets it happen anyways. The vote happens. The deal blows up. Everyone is happy. Nobody is to blame. As an added bonus the Germans get their righteous indignation at the Turk’s century-old actions. I have absolutely no proof, but isn’t in convenient?
A look at the timeline, for what it’s worth:
Feb 25 decided to finalize document by April 24.
April 24 initiated adoption of resolution with vote ‘ not before summer’.
So maybe the vote was pushed forward?
A lot of countries already recognize the Armenian genocide, so not sure what is so special about Germany… Turkey’s deal is supposed to be with EU. I don’t see that Turkey could have a larger reaction to Germany than it did to other EU countries. Would be interesting to know if under German law denying it as genocide would now be a crime.
“The “test of friendship” clearly failed.”
That’s good regardless of whether or not modern Turkey is responsible for what their forebears did.
German parliament’s vote to recognize Armenian genocide leads Turkey to recall its ambassador
The German parliament’s vote Thursday to describe the mass killings of ethnic Armenians by Ottoman Turks a century ago as a genocide prompted an angry Turkish backlash and further strained relations between the two nations.
http://www.latimes.com/world/europe/la-fg-germany-vote-armenian-genocide-20160602-snap-story.html
Germany just voted to recognize the Armenian genocide. Turkey is furious.
Yet Thursday morning, when the Bundestag passed a resolution labeling the 1915 slaughter of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire a “genocide,” the Turkish government reacted with fury. Turkey recalled its ambassador from Berlin, and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan threatened to take more steps to punish Germany. “We will do whatever is necessary to resolve this issue,” he warned ominously.
This issue could not be more fraught. Recognizing the Armenian genocide is, for Turks, a grave insult — essentially, it links their nation’s creation to a crime of monumental proportions. They’ve embarked on a decades-long, surprisingly successful campaign to block the international community from recognizing it.
http://www.vox.com/2016/6/2/11839830/germany-vote-armenian-genocide
And they seem to have found an enthusiastic supporter in you. That they feel ‘insulted’ for “a crime of monumental proportions” is irrelevant. Given they did it, they should acknowledge their mistake.
By the way, when you yourself call it a major crime, how do you then describe it as an irrelevant issue?