On April 23, President of Germany Joachim Gauck will participate in a Mass to be served in memory of the 1.5 million Armenians and representatives of other Christian minorities who were killed in the Ottoman Empire in the early 20^th century, writes armeniangenocide100.org.

This is what Germany’s Second Television Channel reports, adding that Gauck will become the first President of the Federal Republic of Germany to participate in such an event. As reported earlier, a group of German MPs had submitted a legislative initiative for official recognition of the Armenian Genocide and the recognition of the German Empire’s historical responsibility for the Armenian Genocide.

As Tagesspiegel reports, the oppositional Left Party and Greens Party support usage of the term “genocide”, but the government and coalitional parties aren’t in favor of that.

Earlier, Deutsche Welle had reported that German Human Rights Commissioner Christoph Strasser and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Michael Rot will be arriving in Yerevan to participate in the events dedicated to the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide.