Pope Francis Issues Challenge to Turkey – and Germany

On April 24 there is also to be a debate in the German Parliament (Bundestag) followed by a resolution. In 2005 that body issued a resolution which, though shying away from the word “genocide,“ did characterize the events as such and called for government support for serious treatment of the matter, including civil society activities and genocide education in the schools. That well intentioned document stands today as so many words on paper.

Now, on the centenary of the Genocide, political pressure has grown for the Bundestag to take more serious steps. A preliminary draft resolution reportedly did speak of genocide, which the opposition Green Party and the Left Party had demanded, and the ruling coalition of Social Democrats (SPD) and Christian Democratic Union (CDU) had accepted. But then, according to a ZdF report, the controversial term genocide was cut following pressure exerted by party leaders in the SPD and CDU, as well as from the Foreign Ministry. In response, others in both parties objected to what they saw as a political gesture to Turkey.

As for the Foreign Ministry, it told ZdF that “The government is of the view that the expulsion and murder of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire should be researched and evaluated in the context of a scientific debate“, which repeats a formulation from 2005 and dovetails with Turkish views. Rolf Hosfeld, scientific director of the Lepsiushaus in Potsdam, was quoted saying this was a case of “amnesia“ on the part of the government, considering that in the time of the German Empire the genocide was a well known fact to German officialdom. He urged that it be recognized and also be presented as part of the curriculum in schools here.

The Pope’s courageous move has indeed created a crucial dilemma for Germany. It is not a question merely of debating whether or not this or that political institution – for example in France or Sweden or the US — should recognize the genocide as a historical fact relating to Turkey and Armenians; since Imperial Germany was the wartime ally of the Ottoman Empire in World War I, it was fully aware of what occurred and its military and diplomatic personnel were, to varying degrees, complicit. This matter has been at the center of conferences and seminars in the country this year, which have seen researchers and historians thrashing out the issue. Now Pope Francis has raised the stakes, in that he has not only stated that it was a genocide, but has explicitly demanded that governments and organizations acknowledge it as such. Armenian President Serge Sargisian stressed the importance of the German position in remarks to the international press: “My request to members of the German parliament: address the issue, you are free in your decisions.” And he noted that Germany’s role is particularly significant in light of the exemplary manner in which it has dealt with its own responsibility in the Holocaust.

How will Berlin react? Some prominent genocide researchers believe the government will do everything possible to avoid tensions with Turkey, whether in consideration of geopolitical factors (the fight against IS, Turkey‘s role in NATO) or more pragmatically in pursuit of political acceptance among members of the German electorate. The Armenian lobby in Germany is numerically small whereas the Turkish lobby is a significant voting bloc.

In truth, it comes down to a moral question. And that is what the Pope has defined. Will Germany — with a government led by the CDU (a Christian party after all) and the SPD — capitulate to political pragmatism? Will the German President, himself a former clergyman, show less courage than the Pope?