(MENAFN- The Journal Of Turkish Weekly) The German government has backed a draft parliamentary motion describing the forced relocation of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire in 1915 as an example "for the mass killings, forced deportations and genocides of the 20th century."
The move on Monday marked the first time that the German government has used the word "genocide" when referring to the forced relocation of Armenians in 1915, as Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative-left coalition agreed to a compromise wording on the motion marking the 100th anniversary of the incidents.
However, Berlin refrained from using the term "Armenian genocide" which is disputed by various historians and the government of Turkey.
Merkel's spokesman Steffen Seibert said at press conference the government would support the draft non-binding motion at a vote in parliament on Friday.
"The motion states that the destiny of Armenians during the First World War constitutes an example for the history of mass destructions, ethnic cleansings, forced deportations and genocides in the 20th century," he said.
Sharp criticism
The German government last week opposed calls by various lawmakers from governing parties to label the forced relocation of Armenians as an "Armenian genocide."
The German Foreign Ministry expressed concerns over the initiative, saying it could damage reconciliation efforts between Turkey and Armenia and weaken pro-European actors in Turkish politics ahead of parliamentary elections due on June 7.
But the government changed its position over the weekend and agreed to a compromise, following growing support for the initiative among Merkel's Christian Democratic bloc and its coalition partner the Social Democrats.
The move came after the European Parliament adopted a resolution on Wednesday labeling the 1915 events as "genocide", three days after Pope Francis also did the same, drawing sharp criticism from the Turkish government.
A tragedy for both sides; not 'genocide'
Armenia and the Armenian diaspora have demanded an apology and compensation for 1915 incidents as well as the recognition of the events as "genocide."
"Genocide" is defined, in 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, as "acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group."
Turkey objects to the presentation of the incidents as "genocide" and describes the 1915 events as a tragedy for both sides.
Turkey stresses that the issue should be handled from a perspective of "just historical record," which is summarized as respecting the memory of both sides, and understanding what each nation experienced avoiding biased approaches into the history and political debates.
Turkish government has repeatedly proposed to establish a joint commission of historians from both countries including international experts in order to conduct a scientific research and announce its results.
What happened in 1915
At least 16 million people lost their lives in World War I and another 20 million were wounded. The Ottoman, Austro-Hungarian and Russian Empires collapsed, boundaries changed dramatically and large scale human migrations occurred.
Armenians, like all the other people that made up the Ottoman Empire, also suffered immensely. The loss of so many innocent lives and migration from ancestral lands was a common fate.
During the war, some Armenian nationalists, taking advantage of the fact that Ottoman and Russian forces were fighting, collaborated with the Russian army in the hope of creating an ethnically homogenous Armenian homeland. When the Russian army invaded eastern Anatolia, some volunteer Armenian units in Russia and the Ottoman Empire supported the invasion and even some Armenian officials in the Ottoman army changed sides and joined with the invading Russian army to fight against the Turks.
Some Armenian armed groups massacred civilians during Russian invasion. In response, the Ottoman Government tried to convince Armenian representatives and opinion leaders to stop such violence, but to no avail.
Thus, the government decided to close the Armenian revolutionary committees and to arrest or deport some high profile representatives on April 24, 1915 - a date which would later be selected to hold activities commemorating the so-called "Armenian genocide."
On May 27, 1915, the Ottoman Government ordered that the Armenian population residing in or near the war zone as well as those collaborating with the Russian army should be relocated to the southern Ottoman provinces.
While the Ottoman Government clearly planned that those relocating should receive proper care, many Armenians lost their lives under war-time conditions exacerbated by internal strife, local groups seeking revenge, banditry, famine, and epidemics.
There were also some unruly Ottoman officials who committed offences against relocated Armenians. Yet, historical documents prove that the Ottoman Government not only did not intend these outrages to take place but that it prosecuted the perpetrators.
Officials and civilians, who disobeyed the instructions of the Government to carry out the relocation in an orderly and secure fashion, were court-martialed and those found guilty were sentenced to capital punishment by the Government in 1916, long before the end of the First World War.
After the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, Russia left the war, and left the region to Armenian militia, which invaded many Ottoman residential areas using Russian arms.
Eastern Anatolia was invaded again by the Armenian militia in December 1920, but the invasion was repulsed.
Today, the traumatic consequences of the 1915 events continue to distress Turks and Armenians.
The most significant development in the normalization between the two countries was in October 2009, when protocols were signed between Turkey and Armenia to "implement a dialogue on the historical dimension with the aim of restoring mutual confidence between the two nations, including an impartial scientific examination of the historical records and archives to define existing problems and formulate recommendations."
In December 2013, Turkey's then Foreign Minister and incumbent Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said, following his visit to Armenia, that one-sided approaches and incomplete evaluations should be avoided in an effort to find a solution.
He said history could only be built with "a just historical record."
In 2014, when incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was the prime minister, he expressed his condolences for the first time to all Ottoman citizens, including Armenians, who lost their lives in the 1915 events.
In a recent speech, Erdogan reiterated his message and said: "I offered a hand of friendship in 2014 to Armenia, but, unfortunately, it came to nothing."
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