By Muriel Mirak-Weissbach
Special to the Mirror-Spectator
BERLIN — There are good reasons to believe that on June 2, the German Bundestag (Parliament) will vote up a resolution recognizing the Armenian Genocide. The government coalition parties, Christian Democratic Union and Christian Socialist Union (CDU-CSU) and Social Democratic Party (SPD), plus the Green party, have agreed on a unified text, after intense debate and repeated postponements. The title of the document is “Remembering and Commemorating the Genocide against the Armenians and other Christian Minorities in the Ottoman Empire 101 Years Ago.”
This must have taken Turkish President Erdogan by surprise. Over the past weeks he has acted as though the agreement his government made with the EU over the refugee crisis had given him carte blanche in dictating European policy. According to the deal, Turkish citizens should be able to enter Europe without a visa, on condition Turkey comply with the preconditions, 72 in all. Among the requirements is a reform of Turkey’s notorious anti-terrorist laws, which currently allow the government to jail and maltreat especially journalists and human rights activists who issue critical views of its policies. Erdogan demanded that visa restrictions be lifted by the end of June, and when EU refused, reminding him of the conditions (demanded of any country desiring visa-free privileges), he exploded in a fit of narcissistic rage. In public speeches he railed that if the EU did not capitulate, Turkey would “go its own way” and that the EU could negotiate with someone else.
On May 12 he escalated the rhetoric, claiming the conditions for visa freedom had been cooked up after the fact to sabotage the agreement: “Now they come with 72 criteria!” he complained. Not only; he accused the EU of providing “terrorists” weapons and money to destabilize his country. Referring to the EU’s alleged orders to terrorists, Erdogan stated: “They say: Go and divide Turkey. Do you believe that we don’t know that?” And he flatly refused to make any changes in Turkish anti-terror legislation: “Since when do you tell Turkey what to do? Who gave you this right?”
It appears that Erdogan has grossly miscalculated the relationship of political forces. The genocide resolution which he has feared is now on the agenda in Berlin, and no matter how loud the cries of protest come from Turkey, the politicians pushing it are resolute. “It may well be that there will be anger from Ankara,” Green Party leader Cem Özdemir, one of the initiators, told the tabloid Bild Zeitung on May 15. “But the Bundestag does not let itself be blackmailed by a despot like Mr. Erdogan.” Pointing to the historical documents in the wartime German Foreign Ministry archives, which are irrefutable, Özdemir continued, “After the decision of the Bundestag, it will be much more difficult for Turkey to deny it any longer.”
