Armenian clergy men and activists react after law makers voted to recognise the Armenian genocide after a debate during the 173rd sitting of the Bundestag, the German lower house of parliament, in Berlin on June 2, 2016 © Odd Andersen / AFP
Today, on June 2, the German parliament approved a resolution that declares the 1915 massacre of Armenians by Ottoman Turkish forces a ‘genocide’. The vote was almost unanimousю Just one MP voted against and another abstained. The move was supported by German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
“Without this admission there cannot be forgiveness and reconciliation. Suffering does not know temporary boundaries. Genocide will never remain in the past. By recognizing the genocide, it will force the Turkish government to take a brave step and look into its own history,” the Christian Democratic Union’ MP, Albert Weiler commented the vote.
The Turkish and Armenian embassies’ representatives were in the German parliament while the vote was taking place.
The Turkish ruling AK Party commented the decision, saying that the German parliament’s resolution has seriously damaged relations between the two countries. Turkey’s Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus called the resolution a “historic mistake.”
According to the Turkish prime minister, Binali Yıldırım, Ankara has recalled its ambassador to Germany in resonpse to the decision. Ambassador Huseyin Avni Karslioglu is expected to fly back to Turkey on June 2.
Binali Yıldırım also said that a“racist Armenian lobby” was responsible for the decision made by the German parliament.
The decision of the German parliament has a second bottom:
The Erdogan regime has used the ongoing migration crisis to blackmail the EU leaders. Ankara expected to use the migration pressure to get the financial support, visa-free regime and joint the EU in the nearest future. In turn, the regime promised to cut off, at least partly, the migration route from Syria and Iraq that lays through Turkey. However, nobody likes blackmailers. The decision to keep Turkey outside the union is a long-standing strategy of the EU authorities that was strengthened by the recent actions of the Erdogan regime.
The German parliament’s decision is a symbolic step that mean Turkey has no chances to joint the union and the long-awaited visa-free regime is a utopia, created by Recep Erdogan to get support of the citizens. Ankara has only 1 issue that it can use in the political standoff with the EU. It’s the migration flow through Turkey. In turn, the EU has a wide range of economic and political steps that will threat Erdogan’s last chances to remain in the power.
The, de-facto civil war, against Kurds, an economic decline, social tensions and the fail of geopolitical plans in Syria put the incredible high pressure on the Erdogan regime. And recent actions of the EU show that Brussels won’t allow Ankara to take this pressure off, by achieving long-awaited success on the way of the European integration.