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Bundestag Resolution to call 1915 Armenian killings ‘genocide’

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The German Bundestag is set to vote on an Armenian Genocide bill on June 2, according to an agreement reached in April between the Greens and the government.

The ruling coalition, the Left and the Alliance90/Green Parties have reached an agreement to call the 1915 events “genocide.”

If adopted, the bill will come to replace the special resolution adopted by the Bundestag on 2008, which, failed to label the events as “‘genocide,” calling them “massacre” and “forced deportation” instead.

“The things that come on German agenda, are shown on German TV or discussed in the Bundestag are not decided by Mr. Erdogan, Mr. Putin or other authoritarian leaders. I’m glad that thanks to consistent serious work we’ve reached a joint approach with the Federal Government to raise the issue of the genocide of Armenians and other Christians in the Bundestag,” Green Party Co-Chair Cem Özdemir told Public Radio of Armenia.

“I’m glad that we can finally recognize the Armenian genocide with a joint resolution,” he said.

Green Party brought the motion to the parliament in February, but the voting was postponed, since coalition parties Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU) and Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) demanded a common motion.

Bundestag discussed a motion on April 24, 2015 for the first time, but there was no voting. While the government avoided using the term “genocide”, President Joachim Gauck and President of Bundestag Norbert Lammert openly used the word “genocide” to describe the events of 1915.

“Friendship with Turkey does not mean we have to keep silent about the issues, especially considering that we share the responsibility as an ally of the Ottoman Empire. We want to see a strong, European Turkey. The opening of the shared border is in the interests on not only Turkey, but also Armenia and Europe,” Özdemir said.

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