Head of the German Foreign Office Franck-Walter Steinmeier hopes that the Bundestag’s voting on the Armenian Genocide will not cause tension in the relations of Berlin and Ankara, RIA Novosti reports. 

“This is the independent decision of the German Bundestag. The reaction of Turkey was expected, and I hope that in the coming days and weeks we will manage to build such mutual relations which will allow to avoid excessive reaction,” the Minister said, the German Foreign Office press-service reports. 

In Steinmeier’s words, Turkey and Germany are linked by many aspects: this is far from merely being political ties between the governments.

“The special relations between Turkey and Germany are also specified by the fact that the peoples of both countries are closely linked with each other, and that many Turkish immigrants found their homeland in Germany. Thus, we are very interested in close and partner relations with Turkey,” the FM stated.

Steinmeier also noted that Germany will do its best for the neighboring countries of Turkey and Armenia to not only speak “one about another” but also communicate with each other.

 “It would be fine if after this discussion, which took place not only in Germany, but also in Europe, the historians of both sides could find an opportunity to approach the re-thinking [of the past events],” Steinmeier added.

German MFA is currently on a visit to Argentina.