"The fate of the Armenians is exemplary for the history of mass destruction, ethnic cleansing, expulsions and genocides which marks the 20th century in such a terrible way," The German President Joachim Gauck said on Thursday.
Gauck recent remarks are expected to anger Turkey, which refuses the characterization of the Armenian killings in the 1915 as genocide. Armenians, many historians as well as more than 20 countries say that 1.5 million Armenian were killed by the Turkish Ottoman forces during the First World War.
Turkey however says that Muslim Turks were also killed and that the number of those killed did not exceed 800,000.
The German parliament is set to debate on Friday a motion that would adopt the same wording Gauck used to describe the Armenian slaughter.
Gauck, whose position as president is mainly ceremonial, said that the Germans had a hand in the Armenian genocide, as Germany was one of the allies of the Ottoman Empire in WWI.
The comments of the head of the German state comes as Armenians around the world prepare for the 100th anniversary of the Armenian genocide as part of what is known as the Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day commemorated annually April 24.
Meanwhile, Austria announced that it acknowledged the Armenian killings as genocide. The recognition comes weeks after Pope Francis became the first head of the Vatican to use the word genocide to refer to the 1915 events. Both statements major criticism from the Turkish government who sees the genocide label as a “conspiracy” against the country.
In related news, the president of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan said in an interview with Turkish newspaper Hurriyet that his country was ready to mend fences with the Turkish state without preconditions.
“I declare that we are ready for the normalization of relations with Turkey, for starting a process of rapprochement between the Armenian and Turkish nations without any preconditions,” Sargsyan told daily Hurriyet on Thursday.
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