The German foreign minister’s restrained stance with respect to the Armenian Genocide issue has disturbed the German Süddeutsche Zeitung daily readers, who have criticized the German government’s such apathetic position on genocides.

Süddeutsche Zeitung has publicized some of these respective letters sent to its newsroom, and Armenian News-NEWS.am presents below the abridged and translated versions of some of these letters.

“German Foreign Minister Frank Walter Steinmeier stated that the Armenian Genocide recognition could reduce the significance of the [Jewish] Holocaust. Is it not possible to speak about the Armenian, Cambodian, or Rwandan genocides without comparing them with the Holocaust? The brutal killings of ethnic groups cannot be measured by the number of victims,” wrote Peter Maicher from Zorneding.

“People, who debate whether the killings of the Armenians should be labeled ‘genocide,’ should remember the following: the term ‘genocide’ is coined by Polish Jewish lawyer Raphael Lemkin who, in this context, had explored the fate of the very Armenians.

“Lemkin coined the term ‘genocide’ and translated it into German (Völkermord). By this he meant the Armenian Genocide itself,” wrote Dr. Hans-Michael Empell from Heidelberg.