The world’s largest body of scholars who study genocide have written to the German government to legally recognise the genocide of the Armenian, Assyrian and Greek populations by the Ottoman Empire.
In a letter addressed to the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Bundestag Norbert Rottgen, the International Association of Genocide Scholars said:
“In order for progress toward reconciliation to be made between Turkey and the Armenian Republic and the Armenian people, acknowledgement of the historical facts about one of the most devastating human rights atrocities of the modern era must be made”.
The scholars praised Germany’s handling of its own history and the Holocaust, stating “Germany, more than any country in the 20th century, has dealt with the aftermath of genocide with exemplary courage and moral reckoning”. “Germany has been a world leader in its ability to face its past, create a powerful culture of historical memory and deal with issues of recompense and social justice in the wake of the Holocaust,” they added.