Yerevan Welcomes Bundestag’s Resolution Recognizing Armenian Genocide

Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian called the Bundestag's resolution to recognize the 1915 massacre of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire authorities as genocide valuable German contribution in the "universal struggle against genocide and crimes against humanity."

YEREVAN (Sputnik) – Armenia welcomes the German parliament’s decision to adopt a resolution recognizing the Ottoman Empire’s violence against Armenians during World War I as genocide, Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian said Thursday.

Earlier in the day, Bundestag passed in a near-unanimous vote the resolution to recognize the 1915 massacre of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire authorities as genocide.

"Statement by German President Joachim Gauck in connection with the 100th anniversary of the genocide of the Armenians, combined with the resolution adopted by the Bundestag, is a valuable German contribution not only to the cause of the international recognition and condemnation of the Armenian Genocide, but also to the universal struggle against genocide and crimes against humanity," the Foreign Ministry’s press service quoted Nalbandian as saying.

In April last year, Gauck made a statement admitting the German share of guilt in the Armenian genocide, in the first time that the term "genocide" was used on behalf of the German government.

Some 1.2 million Armenians were slaughtered or starved to death by the Ottomans during and after World War I. The empire’s policy of ethnic violence has been recognized by many European countries and Russia as genocide. Ankara maintains that Turkish nationals were also victimized.