Germany Spurns Turkey’s Protests, Officially Recognizes Armenian Genocide

BERLIN – Germany’s Bundestag, the lower house of parliament, on Tuesday adopted a resolution declaring the 1915 mass killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks a genocide.

Responding to Berlin’s decision to formally recognize the near-total annihilation of Turkey’s Armenians as an act of genocide, Armenia’s Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandyan called the move a "valuable contribution to the international recognition and condemnation of the Armenian genocide."

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said late Tuesday that he had warned German Chancellor Angela Merkel in a telephone call that there would be serious consequences that could fundamentally harm German-Turkish relations if the resolution passed.

“If this resolution is adopted and Germany falls into this revisionist trap, it will significantly harm our relations with a country that is our NATO ally,” Erdogan said.

Responding to Erdogan’s threats, Merkel said "A lot binds Germany to Turkey. Even if we have a difference of opinion on one individual matter, the breadth of our links, our friendship and our strategic ties remains great."

Turkey, however, retaliated immediately to the German parliament’s move by ordering the withdrawal of its ambassador from Berlin. Erdogan said he would consult with his cabinet to formulate a proportional response aimed at the German government.

Most historians agree that the embattled government of the dying Ottoman Empire – whose armies were fairing poorly on the battlefields of World War I – ordered the mass extermination and deportation of at least 1.5 million Armenians in 1915.

Despite overwhelming historical evidence Turkey rejects the use of the term genocide, saying that Armenians died in much smaller numbers and because of civil strife rather than as part of a planned government effort to annihilate Anatolia’s ancient Armenian minority.

Germany’s vote to officially recognize the Armenian Genocide comes at a time when relations between Ankara and Berlin are particularly strained. The European Union is counting on the cooperation of Ankara to help stem the tide of refugees passing through Turkey to EU member states.

To date, 30 countries now officially recognized the Armenian massacres as an act of genocide. Those countries with significant Armenian populations that do not officially recognize the 1915 genocide include the US, UK, Iran, Israel and Georgia.

For more on the history of the Armenian Genocide, please see the following 1999 clip by ABC's Peter Jennings.

By Nicholas Waller