Our only goal is to keep Turkey by our side until the end of the war, regardless of whether Armenians perish in the process or not. This sentence made by Germany in the years of WWI is timely after more than 100 years. This sentence became more important than Bundestag’s call to Turkey to acknowledge the crimes of the Ottoman Empire, Michael Heussen writes in his article in the German newpaper Tagesschau.
According to the article, the German Parliament almost said “yes” to acknowledging the Armenian pogroms of 1915 as a genocide, but Germany is still afraid of enraging Turkey, especially considering that the latter has promised to stop the migrant flow in its country.
“Berlin still doesn’t want to lose its ally in Bosporus. Turkey is a state partner; therefore Berlin also keeps silent about the crimes, which are currently taking place in eastern Turkey. This was also the case in 1915, and nothing has changed up to now. To the call to stop the crimes against Armenians in the years of WWI, Chancellor of Germany Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg responded: “Our only goal is to keep Turkey by our side until the end of the war, regardless of whether Armenians perish in the process or not.,” the author writes.
Michael Heussen notes that today Turkey continues to persecute the Kurds, while the West keeps silent. “At the moment, Turkey is the most important country for the West in terms of stopping the refugees. Therefore, it wouldn’t be constructive to enrage the Turks by a Bundestag resolution or official recognition of the Armenian pogroms as a “genocide”: this is what politicians think,” the author writes, excoriating this standpoint.
According to the author, this opinion is an absolute cowardice. “Genocide is a genocide, regardless of who committed it. Genocide must be called by its name. Not only for the Armenians, who have been waiting so long for the acknowledgement of the crime committed against their ancestors, but also for preventing such crimes. Thus, it’s more important than ever for the Bundestag to officially call on Turkey to finally recognize the crime committed by the Ottomans,” the author concludes.
