The International Media on the Recognition of Armenian Genocide by Germany

• 06.02.2016, 22:46
•  Europe,  Armenia

The German parliament has approved a resolution declaring that recognizing the Armenian Genocide committed by the Ottoman Turkey.

This immediately began to appear on the headlines of leading world newspapers.

''Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their people died in the atrocities of 1915. Turkey says the toll was much lower and rejects the term "genocide". The vote heightened German-Turkish tensions at a time when Turkey's help is needed to stem the flow of migrants. Turkey has recalled its ambassador and its leader threatened further action,'' BBC wrote after the resolution passed.

''Historians estimate that up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed by Ottoman Turks around the time of World War I, an event viewed by many scholars as the 20th century's first genocide. Turkey denies that the killings that started in 1915 were genocide and contends the dead were victims of civil war and unrest. Ankara also insists the death toll has been inflated,'' in its turn wrote Sputnik News.

France 24 mentioned that Turkey had previously said that German resolution could seriously damage ties between the two countries. ''The adoption of the resolution comes at a particularly awkward time, as Germany and the European Union need Turkey to help stem a record influx of migrants even as tensions are rising between both sides over human rights and other issues.

Armenia has long sought international recognition of the genocide, but Ankara rejects the use of the term to describe the World War I-era killings and argues that it was a collective tragedy in which equal numbers of Turks and Armenians died.''

''Germany has now become the 29th country to recognize the systematic murder of Armenians by Ottoman forces during the First World War as genocide, following earlier decisions by France, Italy, the Netherlands and Canada,'' The Telegraph wrote. ''The Bundestag resolution admitted Germany’s historic role, as a military ally of the Ottoman Empire, in aiding the ''organized expulsion and annihilation of the Armenians'' and failing to stop ''these crimes against humanity''.

''The timing could not be worse for Merkel, who has championed a deal with Turkey under which Ankara has agreed to stem the flow of refugees to Europe in return for cash, visa-free travel rights and accelerated talks on European Union membership.

Merkel was powerless to stop the symbolic resolution, which was initiated by the opposition Greens and was also backed by lawmakers in her conservative bloc and the Social Democrats,'' Reuters wrote.