German Intellectuals Urge Merkel to Recognize the Armenian Genocide

German intellectuals, including director with Turkish origin Fatih Akin, published an open letter directed to the German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Bundestag where they urge Merkel to recognize the Armenian Genocide with the June 2 resolution,  German “Die Zeit” periodical informs.

In the letter German intellectuals urged “to show clear stance on June 2 and to call the crime against Armenian people with its name which is genocide”. “Imagine, you live in Germany, where the Holocaust is denied: won’t it be viewed as a continuation of a crime?”, they write.

“We urge You to stand for the fundamental European values and put clarity in Your words. The denial of the Armenian Genocide currently serves the basis for new violence. Armenians were called terrorists in 1915, their property was taken away, and now more than 5.000 Kurdish people were killed in Turkey in 2015 who were blamed to be terrorists. All this happened since Turkey regularly refuses to face its history, and its past, as well as today’s actions do not receive any response from the international community”, German intellectuals said stating that Bundestag and its preceding structures kept silence on the Armenian Genocide for more than 100 years.