Cem Özdemir (Head of the Alliance 90/The Greens): “As a German citizen of Turkish origin, the Armenian genocide - carried out by the Ottoman Empire at a time when the German Reich was its close ally - has always moved me in particular.”

On November 15, 2015,the Alliance 90/The Greens presented a resolution to the German Bundestag that would encourage the German state to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide. The resolution was originally intended to be passed during the centennial anniversary of the Genocide, 2015. However, the ruling coalition postponed the resolution, agreeing to debate it by April 24, 2016. Cem Özdemir,the head of the Alliance 90/The Greens, who was a strong supporter of the resolution, stated that he would agree to postponing it as long as the core parts of the resolution stayed intact when it would be reintroduced. This includes the acknowledgment that the massacres that took place in 1915 was in fact a genocide, that Germany’s influence in these events would be mentioned, and that the intention of the resolution would be to fosterpositive Armenian-Turkish relations.

While the German government has had a history of supporting the recognition of the Armenian genocide, this resolution has garnered some criticism because of its timing. Due to the postponing of the resolution, the debates will now take place around the same time as the EU-Turkey summit. This summit, which started on March 7, is intended to negotiate how Turkey and the EU will respond to the influx of refugees into Europe; such as the increase in aid to Turkey, the ability to deport refugees that do not receive asylum in the EU to Turkey, and the ability to return refugees that are held in international waters to Turkey. Much of the criticism of said resolution revolves around the idea that the timing of it could anger Turkey, and may affect the summit.

The following is talk with Henriette Rytz, a foreign policy advisor to Cem Özdemir, member of the German Bundestag and head of the German Green Party. Before joining his team, she worked as researcher at Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik / German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP), a Berlin-based foreign policy think tank. Ms. Rytz holds a PhD in Political Science and an M.A. in International Relations from the Free University. 

In 2005, the Bundesrat made a statement acknowledging the atrocities of the genocide without using the term genocide. Because of this, I would like to ask you what was the motivation behind launching this resolution now? Is it the actual word ‘Genocide’ that is the most important thing of the resolution, or is it the list of demands stated in the resolution?

In 2005, the Bundestag, which is the popular chamber (not the Bundesrat, which is the chamber that represents the German Länder) passed a resolution commemorating the genocide of the Armenians. The word “genocide” was not mentioned in the body of the resolution but in the appendix servings as an explanatory statement (“Begründung”). Ten years have passed, and Turkish civil society has become more open with regard to the Armenian genocide. With the murder of Hrant Dink in 2007, people took to the street and pledged to continue his fight for an open society which would not be in denial of its past. Since then, many discussions, events, commemorations, academic conferences addressing the Armenian genocide have taken place in Turkey. We therefore think that now is the right time to acknowledge what is consensus among historians and other experts – that the atrocities committed against the Armenians and other Christian minorities in the Ottoman Empire were a genocide.

However, labelling the events as genocide is not the only important message the resolution should contain. The resolution should also clearly recognize that Germany was co-responsible and that Germany should strive to improve Armenian-Turkish relations. These are the three points that Mr. Özdemir and Mr. Kauder, the leader of the ruling CDU party faction, agreed upon at the end of the debate on February 25, 2016. Mr. Kauder promised that the Bundestag would soon pass a resolution containing these three core messages.

One of the main arguments for this resolution was the desire for the German government to acknowledge the genocide by the hundred-year anniversary of the genocide. However, it is now 2016, and the hundred-year anniversary is over. Thus, I would like to ask you about why is there a push for the resolution to be passed now?

We hoped that following the plenary debate on the hundredth anniversary of the genocide we would soon pass a joint resolution with the other party factions. However, the CDU/CSU and the SPD delayed any action on the issue. In fact, the heads of both factions stopped a joint resolution which we had negotiated with them in the fall. They were apparently afraid that their close relations with Ankara, which Germany needs in the refugee crisis, would be damaged. It is this failed attempt at a joint resolution that we introduced as our resolution (with exactly the same wording) in order to make the CDU/CSU and SPD decide whether they would really be willing to vote against their own resolution. This is the resolution that was debated on February 25, 2016. We did this now because we do not want to let the commemorative year end without a joint resolution.

There has been criticism about this resolution because of the upcoming EU-Turkish Pact negotiations. I was wondering if you could elaborate on how founded these accusations are? For example, how do you think this resolution, whether it passes or not, will affect the EU-Turkish Pact?

After the plenary debate on April 24, 2015, when speakers from all parties of the German Bundestag spoke unequivocally of genocide, as did the President of the Bundestag, Dr. Lammert, the reaction from the Turkish side was zero. It seems like they care much less about this issue than the CDU/CSU und SPD think they do.

The resolution presented a list of demands directed at the Turkish government. Please describe how the Bundestag intends to implement this demands if the resolution is passed. 

The resolution was written in the spirit of reconciliation. Therefore the resolution aims to encourage the Turkish and Armenian governments to move towards each other, to talk about this difficult shared history, to support research on the issues, and to help find the families of the victim peace and a sense of relief. With this resolution, the Bundestag asks the German government to support this process of reconciliation as much as possible.

The German government seems to have hands off policy with Turkey mainly due to the flow of refugees from Turkey to Europe? However, this resolution seems to be a direct contradiction with this policy. Because of this, opposition political parties have stated that Özdemir is trying to use this resolution and the Armenian Genocide as a partisan issue. What is the political gain of this resolution to Özdemir and the Greens? How will it affect Turkish German relations if passed?

Representatives of the CDU/CSU have argued that the Green Party faction used this resolution as a partisan issue. However, our main goal has always been to pass a joint resolution. The fact that we do not have a joint resolution yet, is not our fault but that of the ruling party factions. As a matter of fact, we did have a draft joint resolution negotiated with the CDU/CSU and SPD – but which was stopped by the latter two, not by us.

The resolution was written in the spirit of reconciliation. Germany has a very difficult past. In fact, one important message of the resolution is that the Bundestag recognizes that Germany was co-responsible for the Armenian genocide. Germany has learned that a society, a country actually becomes stronger (and not weaker) when it deals openly with its past, no matter how difficult it may be. That is the message that we would like to send to Ankara.

Is this resolution in any way related to the refugee issue? If these negotiations fail, and Turkey does not stop the flow of refugees into Europe, the EU stated that they may be forced to close the border. Is it possible that this resolution is a political ploy to attempt to end these negotiations and to close said border?

The resolution has nothing to do with the ongoing negotiations with Turkey in the refugee debate. The timing of the debate was decided by the fact that we failed to reach an agreement with the CDU/CSU in negotiations over a joint resolution last fall and that we did not want to end the commemorative year without making another attempt at a joint resolution.

The following question was asked of Cem Özdemir, head of the Green Party.

In March 2015, you visited the genocide memorial in Yerevan. Why did you visit the memorial the month before the hundred-year anniversary? What motivated you to do so?  What were your impressions? 

The fate of persecuted religious and ethnic minorities has been of utmost concern to me throughout my political career. As a German citizen of Turkish origin, the Armenian genocide - carried out by the Ottoman Empire at a time when the German Reich was its close ally - has always moved me in particular. I used to have long discussions with my friend Hrant Dink about how building an open society in Turkey requires dealing with this difficult past. His legacy reminds me how important it is to continue this work.

I have long wanted to travel to Armenian and visit the memorial. Doing so on the eve of the hundredth anniversary of the genocide and as a member of the German Bundestag, I wanted to encourage my colleagues in the Bundestag and the German government to recognize that it was genocide and that Germany was co-responsible.

The visit was deeply moving. Seeing Mount Ararat from the memorial site reminded me of how important it is to bring Armenia and Turkey closer together. Calling it genocide is one thing, bringing Armenia and Turkey closer together, through exchange and open borders, is a much greater challenge that still lies ahead of us.

Top Photo: Henriette Rytz, Cem Özdemir 

(Interview conducted by Katherine Berjikian, a Birthright Armenia volunteer now working at Hetq)