Ankara does not want to see relations with Berlin damaged, as the German parliament prepares to vote on a resolution aimed at recognizing the deaths of Armenians in 1915 as ‘genocide’, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said Wednesday, Anadolu Agency reports.
Yildirim’s remarks were delivered to reporters at Esenboga Airport in the Turkish capital ahead of his first official visit to the Northern Cyprus.
“We do not have anything secret or hidden…Let the past and history of all countries be investigated. But, let historians do this,” he said.
Yildirim warned that history was being made an “instrument of politics”.
Referring to Germany’s large Turkish community, Yildirim added: “I hope that the German parliament and decision makers will not turn a deaf ear to 3.5 million voters. Therefore, we do not desire that such a resolution be passed,” Yildirim said.
“This is null and void for us but we do not want [it] passed,” he added.
On Tuesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke with Chancellor Angela Merkel by phone to share Ankara’s sensitivities over the resolution.
