Bundestag’s final debate on Armenian Genocide Resolution on April 30

The German Bundestag held a debate on the Armenian Genocide this morning. Representatives of different parties represented in the parliament offered speeches.

Bundestag President Norbert Lammert opened the debate to mark the centenary of the killings by himself directly referring to the mass killings as genocide.

“What happened before the eyes of the world in the Ottoman Empire during the First World War was a genocide,” said Lammert.

The Bundestag president called on the present Turkish government to accept responsibility for what had resulted from the genocide, while stressing that it was not directly responsible.

Lammert also referred to the role of Germany – a World War One ally of the Ottoman Empire – whose troops were said to have been involved in planning and even implementing deportations.

The Foreign Relations Committee of the Bundestag is expected to hold a final debate on the resolution on April 30.

German President Joachim Gauck used the word ‘genocide’ at an ecumenical ceremony in Berlin on Thursday evening, ahead of the official centenary commemoration of the killings.