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The German parliament has withstood a barrage of pressure from the Turkish government, approving a symbolic resolution that declares the 1915 massacre of Armenians by Ottoman Turkish forces a ‘genocide’, RT https://www.rt.com/news/345159-germany-armenia-genocide-vote/ reports.

According to the source, the vote was almost unanimous in supporting the resolution with just one MP voting against and another abstaining. The move was largely expected and was supported by German Chancellor Angela Merkel. However, the German leader was forced to skip the vote due to prior commitments.

Gregor Gysi, a politician from The Left Party, who was critical of Turkey’s treatment of the Kurds who were doing an excellent job in fighting Islamic State, said that “Germany was a historical accessory” and has a duty to recognize the mass killings of Armenians in the First World War.

“We need to call this what it was – a genocide. The Bundestag should not allow itself to be blackmailed by Turkey’s threats,” he told the parliament.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had already warned that relations between Ankara and Berlin would suffer if Germany was to recognize the mass killings of Armenians as genocide.

Sections of the German media are worried about what impact the decision by the parliament to recognize the genocide could have on the migrant deal between Turkey and the EU, which has been championed by Merkel.