Germany’s President Joachim Gauck qualified the events which took place in the Ottoman Empire as a genocide, at the same time raising the question of Germany’s guilt in that, German newspaper Tagesspiegel reports.

After the ecumenical prayer held at Berlin Cathedral in memory of Armenian Genocide victims, Germany’s President delivered a speech referring to German Empire soldiers, who took part in the deportations of Armenians: “In this case, we, the Germans, should be collectively liable and even realize our guilt in Armenian Genocide.”

Gauck literally cited the text of the resolution to be put on vote in Bundestag this Friday: “On the background of our current realization and civil and humanitarian tragedies of the last decade, today it’s more than clear that the Armenians’ fortune is an example of mass killings, ethnic cleansing, deportations and, yes, genocide, which marked the 20th century in such a terrible way.”