Istanbul – The Turkish government on Wednesday cautioned Germany against classifying a century-old Ottoman Empire campaign to deport and kill Armenians as genocide.
Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin gave warning before the Bundestag, the lower house of Germany’s parliament, is set to discuss the topic.
“Speaking about it without historical or legal proof is nothing other than a misuse of political power, Kalin said.
He added that the issue has actually been put to rest, but is continually put on the agenda again and again under different pretexts.
The German government is set to vote in June 2 on whether to officially condemn the displacement and killings of Armenians during the Ottoman Empire as “genocide.”
Report says Armenia and 20 other countries refer to the deaths as genocide, a designation Turkey has routinely disputed when the question comes up in other countries.
However it said that 800,000 to 1.5 million members of the Christian minority were estimated to have died during the Armenian massacre in 1915.
“As the successor to the Ottoman Empire, Turkey acknowledges some of the killings, but vehemently denies that they constitute genocide,’’ Kalin said. (dpa/NAN)
