Istanbul Armenian activist Garo Paylan, who is also an MP from the—pro-Kurdish—opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) of Turkey, reflected on the German Bundestag’s adoption of the resolution on the recognition of Armenian Genocide.

After this decision, Paylan noted that the genocide was carried out right before the eyes of German officers and officials, who had assisted the Ottoman Empire in the planning and cover-up of this crime, reported the pro-Kurdish Dayanışma (solidarity) website. 

“It is historic that Germany, a complicit in Armenian Genocide, is facing up to the genocide,” said Garo Paylan. “But the most important [thing is that] Turkey, the real master of the crime, faces up to and is saved from the genocidal tradition.”

The Bundestag, the lower house of the German parliament, on Thursday formally recognized the Armenian Genocide, with the aforesaid resolution and with only one vote against and one abstention. The resolution also notes that the Bundestag regrets that the German government at the time did nothing to stop this crime against humanity, and therefore the Bundestag also acknowledges the respective historical accountability of Germany.