Armenia and the Armenian lobby claim that Turkey`s predecessor, the Ottoman Empire allegedly carried out ”genocide” against the Armenians living in Anatolia in 1915.
Until now, Berlin has successfully avoided the word “genocide”, fearing to assess any historical events, apparently for reasons of political correctness. The issues of the past are too painful for the Germans. In addition, Berlin wouldn’t want to offend the largest NATO partner, Turkey, for several reasons. The reasons are still the same, Turkey remains an ally and the largest economic partner of Germany, however, public pressure is forcing politicians to change their principles and act contrary to common sense.
Berlin has to realize that Germany, more than any other European country, will suffer from the recognition of the so-called Armenian genocide - something that Ankara denies.
The thing is that the Turkish community in Germany brings together around 3.5 million people, and even young Turks who were born in Germany and mainly speak German language, stubbornly adhere to their own national values.
If you find yourself in the regions populated by Turks in Berlin, where the author of the article has been several times, you will understand that the farther away the German Turks are from their historical homeland, the more fanatically they are committed to it.
By the way, Ankara also farsightedly took all measures to maintain ties with the ethnic Turks residing in Germany. When serving as Turkish prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan welcomed the desire of his compatriots to be integrated into German society. The keyword here is to be integrated, but not to be assimilated, that’s to say, to remain a Turk with German citizenship, and not become a German of Turkish origin.
A law came into force in Turkey just for this purpose, allowing the Turks living in Germany with dual citizenship to take part in elections in Turkey.
Now let’s imagine what will be the reaction of millions of Turks, who live in Germany, but are very interested in their historical motherland’s welfare, if Berlin agrees to such an assessment of the 1915 events that took place in the Ottoman Empire – an assessment which is so painful and unfair for Ankara.
The protest sentiments can significantly destabilize the situation in Germany, leading only to new difficulties in relations between the ethnic Germans and Turks living in Germany.
Is it worth risking the stability in the country for the sake of Armenia’s interests? Hopefully, the Bundestag`s answer will be negative.
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