GERMANY MAY BE VENUE FOR ARMENIAN AND TURKISH COMMUNITIES TO MEET

PanARMENIAN.Net - More and more representatives of the Turkish community of Germany, including publicists, speak about the Armenian Genocide freely and without apprehensions, and it is our victory; however the negative side is that resulting from a direct influence of Turkey Kemalist forces have become activated trying to instigate nationalist sentiments among Turks of Germany. Tessa Hoffman, Professor of Berlin's Freie University stated at Ultimate Crime, Ultimate Challenges: Human Rights and Genocide international conference. In T. Hoffman's words, Germany can be a venue for meetings of the Armenian and Turkish communities, exchange of information. "The archives of our country are open and Germans are main witnesses of the events of World War I and they had much influence in Turkey itself," she noted, adding at that unfortunately there are no such contacts yet. Why Germany avoids using of the term "genocide" referring to the events of early 20-th century, why Germans engage in self-censorship? It seems it is also due to Germany being drawn in a range of genocides throughout the 20-th century and though it has recognized its responsibility to Jews, until now it avoids it in the case of Namibia," the German scholar considers. "In case of the Armenian Genocide Germany was the ally of Turkey and speaking from the point of view of protection of human rights today, Germany has the opportunity to study the common history of World War I and the Armenian Genocide along with Turkish scientists and other interested parties, use that experience to prevent future tragedies. Germans, Turks and Armenians can tell each other many things," Tessa Hoffman summed up.