8.9 C
Frankfurt am Main

AK Party deputy Külünk to submit proposal seeking to recognize ‘Namibian genocide’

Must read

Justice and Development Party (AK Party) İstanbul deputy Metin Külünk has prepared a legislative proposal that seeks to recognize mass killings of the Namibians by German Empire early 1900s as “genocide.”

The legislative proposal was prepared as a counteraction against Germany for accepting the “Armenian genocide” last week.

A number of politicians, including President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım, condemned Germany for accepting the so-called genocide.

Three political parties represented in the Turkish Parliament – ruling AK Party and opposition parties Republican People’s Party (CHP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) — also issued a joint declaration to condemn German lawmakers for accepting with overwhelming majority a symbolic resolution that labels the killings of Armenians during 1915 and 1916 a “genocide” by Ottoman forces.

The German Empire carried out racially-motivated mass killings of tens of thousands of Namibians during colonial wars waged on the territory of modern-day Namibia between 1904 and 1907. More than 24,000 ethnic Herero and 10,000 Nama tribal people is estimated to have died as a result of starvation, abuse, and diseases during the course of the warfare and in concentration camps.

However, the German parliament admitted that the Namibian killings were a part of a “race war” that should be considered a “genocide” in 2015.

Turkey, a majority of whose population is Muslim, accepts that many Christian Armenians died in clashes with Ottoman soldiers beginning in 1915, when Armenia was part of the empire ruled from İstanbul, but denies hundreds of thousands were killed and that this amounted to genocide.

Turkey and Armenia have a century-long conflict due to the events of 1915, which are highly disputed in both nations. Turks accept that many Armenians died in 1915 in Anatolia under the Ottoman Empire, but they deny that this number is as high as 1.5 million and instead have an official death toll of about 500,000. Turks say that the events do not constitute an act of genocide, a term that is used not only by Armenians world-wide but also Western politicians, officials, and many historians. Turks also say that many Turks and Kurds were killed by Armenian gang groups in 1915.

More than 20 nations, including France, Russia and Germany, have recognized the Armenian genocide so far.

Liked it? Take a second to support Turkish Minute on Patreon!
Become a patron at Patreon!
More News
Latest News