German President Joachim Gauck on April 24 will stay in Germany, but he will take part in the events devoted to the Genocide. The president of Germany is almost entirely a symbolic figure, but that does not mean he does not play an important role in the German state. For such cases, it is important to know who this person is and what he symbolizes. Joachim Gauck is from East Germany, mainly from the former East Germany: a communist country where he was engaged in human rights activities; Joachim Gauss’s calling is a Protestant pastor. In the first decade of the united Germany, he led a committee of the German intelligence service, which made decisions of whether a candidate for public office is “free” to cooperate with the Stasi. Lustration is a very delicate matter, and even if it is held, it should not become a process called “bring to light”. In order not to be so, the Commission must lead an absolute moral authority. Such person is Joachim Gauck.
Germany had a negative role in the matter of Armenian Genocide as during the First World War, Germany and Turkey were allies, and the Turkish army that caused so much malfeasance was part of the “united army.” But there were Germans, who in those years were committed to humanistic ideals of the German high culture, including Gauck`s “partner” Johannes Lepsius who also was a Protestant pastor.
Of course, it is not the responsibility of Germany not to recognize the Armenian Genocide. The reasons are more “modern “political and economic. There comes a period when a country must balance the problem of interests and values, morality and pragmatism. To balance, because it is considered cynicism to rule only by the first, to rule by the latter is unrealistic. Joachim Gauck stands next to the Armenians on April 24, and Angela Merkel not (yet good that she does not go to Turkey).
Why is it important that particularly Germany stands for these universal values? There are too many reasons for it. It may sound strange, but in my purely subjective opinion, one of the reasons is that we haven`t had any higher value than the 18-19 century`s Austro-German musical culture which was created by humanity.
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Aram ABRAHAMYAN
