Germany’s Green Party hopes Members of the Bundestag will listen to their heart and be guided by universal values during the vote for the Armenian Genocide Resolution to be submitted to the Bundestag on February 25.

This is what Henriet Reitz, political advisor to one of the leaders of the Green Party Cem Ozdemir, mentioned in an interview with “Armenpress”. He reported that the Bundestag would discuss the draft of the new Armenian Genocide Resolution, which has the same formulations that were included in the draft law that the parliamentary factions of the Green Party, the Christian-Democratic Union and Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU) and the Social-Democratic Party (SPD) had discussed months ago.

Although the parties had successfully discussed the text of the joint resolution, they eventually decided not to submit it for a final vote. “It seems as though the coalition was concerned that the passage of such a resolution would have a negative impact on its relations with Ankara, which is currently important in relation to the refugee crisis. We, as a parliamentary faction of the Green Party, have submitted this joint resolution as our draft.

On February 25, there will be discussions on the resolution, which will be followed by a vote. With this, we want to provide the opportunity to the members of the coalition supporting us to vote in favor of this draft resolution that was also theirs at one point in time. We hope there are many members of the coalition who will listen to their hearts and follow values, helping us pass the draft law,” Reitz said. Reitz emphasized that to this moment, the Turkish party has not tried to interfere. In 2005, the German Bundestag passed the resolution on the mass annihilation, ethnic cleansing and exile of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire in 1915, but the term ��?genocide’ was not mentioned in the resolution.

A turning point was made in Germany’s position after the statements by Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Federal Republic of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmayer and Chancellor Angela Merkel’s speaker Stefan Zaibert. On April 23, 2015, President of the Federal Republic of Germany Joaquim Gauck viewed the Armenian massacres as ��?genocide’ in his speech during the Armenian Genocide commemoration ceremony held at the Mother Cathedral of Berlin. On April 24, 2015, the Bundestag discussed a new resolution recognizing the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire in 1915.

The session began with a speech by President of the Bundestag Norbert Lammert, who referred to the historic events having taken place in the Ottoman Empire in 1915 as genocide. During the session, leaders of factions of different political parties also made pro-Armenian statements, acknowledging what had happened. However, the vote for the resolution was postponed for an uncertain period.

Araks Kasyan