Turkey has recalled its envoy to
Germany in protest against German MPs declaring the 1915 massacre of
Armenians during WWI as "genocide".
Armenians
say up to 1.5 million of their people died in the atrocities of 1915.
Turkey says the toll was much lower and rejects the term "genocide".
The vote heightens German-Turkish tensions at a time when Turkey's help is needed to control migrant arrivals.
The
Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said the resolution would
seriously affect relations with Germany, and that the government would
consider further measures in response to the vote.
The Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu tweeted: "The way to
close the dark pages in your own history is not by besmirching the
history of other countries with irresponsible and groundless
parliamentary decisions," a clear reference to Germany's Nazi past.
But the German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier called for calm.
"As
expected, Turkey has reacted, and I hope that we will succeed in the
next days and weeks to avoid any overreaction," he told journalists
during a visit to Buenos Aires.
Armed riot police were deployed
outside the German consulate in Istanbul, near Taksim square, where a
protest against the vote was taking place.
However, there are several reactions with regards to this as follows:
- Turkey's Prime Minister Binali Yildirim blamed a "racist Armenian lobby" for the resolution
- Armenia's Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian said it was a "valuable contribution" to the "international recognition and condemnation of the Armenian genocide"
- German Chancellor Angela Merkel said: "There is a lot that binds Germany to Turkey and even if we have a difference of opinion on an individual matter, the breadth of our links, our friendship, our strategic ties, is great"
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