Turkish Intellectuals Who Have Recognized The Armenian Genocide: Ekin Deligöz

By Hambersom Aghbashian

Ekin Deligöz (born on 21 April 1971 in Tokat, Turkey) is a Turkish-German politician, member of Alliance ’90/The Greens. She currently serves as a member of the German Bundestag. Ekin’s family moved to West Germany in 1979. She attended school in Weißenhorn and afterwards partook in Administrative Studies in Konstanz and Vienna earning a degree in 1998. In February 1997, she acquired German citizenship. Deligöz joined the Greens as a student member and belonged to the Bavaria chapter of the Greens’ youth organization. She entered the Bundestag in 1998, and was re-elected in 2002, 2005 and 2009. In 2009, she was appointed deputy spokesperson of her party’s parliamentary group. Deligöz was re-elected following the 2013 election of Bundestag. She is a member of the Budget Committee and as deputy chairwoman of the Audit Committee, she serves as her parliamentary group’s rapporteur on the budgets of the Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs (BMAS), the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), the Federal Ministry of Health (BMG), the Federal Ministry of Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth (BMFSFJ) and the Office of the Federal President. Ekin Deligöz is married with two children.

On April 6, 2015, German newspaper Tagesspiegel published an article analyzing Germany’s position on the Armenian Genocide, questioning “why would the term ‘Genocide’ disappear from the coalition’s petition?”, and it mentioned that the “Great coalition does not want to collide with Erdogan”. Co-authors Cordula Eubel and Hans Monnat confirmed that “ruling Christian Democrats (CDU) and Social Democrats (SPD) avoid using the term ‘Genocide’ in the Bundestag. Apparently, they are afraid of a conflict with Turkey, which denies the fact of the Genocide,”. The newspaper added that  “Co-chairman of Alliance ’90/The Greens Cem Ozdemir considers the attitude of German coalition towards Turkey and Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan to be unacceptable. At the end the authors mentioned that Ozdemir also reminds of Germany’s complicity in the implementation of the Armenian Genocide, and they added that “Ozdemir along with his fellow party member Ekin Deligöz has recently visited Armenia and stated that April 24 was worth a visit by Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel. ⁽¹⁾

en.qantara.de, published an article in April 2015 by Ceyda Nurtsch about the German Empire and the Armenian genocide titled “Turning a blind eye”, where she wrote about a book published by Jurgen Gottschlich, who was long based in Istanbul as correspondent for the German daily newspaper Taz, and has contributed to scholarly research on the topic. His book “Accessory to genocide: Germany’s role in the annihilation of the Armenians” was published in February 2015. Drawing mostly on German archive material, Gottschlich shedded light on this hitherto largely unknown chapter of the history of German diplomacy. “Few Germans are likely to be familiar with this chapter of German history,” said the author at the launch of his book in Berlin. “For many, German-Turkish relations begin with the arrival of migrant workers in the 1960s. Hardly anyone knows that the German Empire was at the time involved in Turkey politically and militarily, and thus aided and abetted the genocide.” Ceyda Nurtsch  continued her article about the developments of the Armenian Genocide issue and mentioned that “To the surprise of many, German President Joachim Gauck condemned the massacre of 1.5 million Armenians by Ottoman Turkish forces a century ago as “genocide”, ” and  added that “Cem Ozdemir and Ekin Deligöz of the German Greens, both of whom are of Turkish origin, laid a wreath at the Genocide Memorial in Yerevan during a visit to the Armenian capital on 12 March 2015.” ⁽²⁾

According to RT, June 11, 2016, “Eleven German MPs of Turkish descent, who voted for recognition of the Armenian genocide, have reportedly received a travel warning from the German Foreign Ministry. They were told not to visit Turkey – or face safety risks there. Eleven MPs of Turkish descent voted for a landmark resolution, sparking a barrage of accusations and threats from Turkey. Almost immediately after the vote, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the lawmakers’ blood must be tested in a lab for “Turkishness,” labeling them “the long arm of the separatist terrorists placed in Germany.” The resolution, titled “Remembrance and commemoration of the genocide of Armenians and other Christian minorities in the years 1915 and 1916,” received overwhelming support from the CDU and Social Democrats, as well as the opposition Greens. Ekin Deligöz is one of the Turkish descent Bundestag members who voted for the resolution and received many threats. ⁽³⁾

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1- http://armeniangenocide100.org/en/tagsspiegel-armenian-genocide-recognition-bundestag/

2- https://en.qantara.de/content/the-german-empire-and-the-armenian-genocide-turning-a-blind-eye

3- http://www.newsjs.com/url.php?p=https://www.rt.com/news/346215-german-lawmakers-turkey-warning/