“There was a lot of interest in seeing whether Merkel would really use the word ‘genocide’ or not. A lot of people thought that, since the German Bundestag criminalized denial of the Armenian Genocide two years ago, the chancellor would officially speak about it. But that didn’t happen,” said Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Arman Navasardyan in an interview regarding German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s visit to the Tsitsernakaberd Genocide memorial. According to him, Merkel not using the word ‘genocide’ has a more positive meaning for Armenians given the current political climate than if she had used it.
The diplomat explained his stance. “Merkel visiting the Armenian Genocide memorial and museum shows that she accepts the genocide as fact, whether or not she used the word. If she used it, what would that have given us? First, Germany has important relations with Turkey in many arenas, and Erdogan will be visiting Germany this year. They were waiting in Turkey to see if Merkel would use the word ‘genocide’ during her visit to Armenia. I am convinced that using that word would not have worked in our favor. It’s better that she didn’t use it but for us to have successful bilateral and international relations.”
Arman Navasardyan mentioned that Germany is the most important of all European nations, unlike France, whose leader does not have good relations with Armenia. “As Merkel stated, her country will help to advance Europe-Armenia relations. From that point of view, her visit was very important.”
Luiza Sukiasyan
