Turkish PM: "German vote on 1915 events is a nonsense"

Baku. 1 June. REPORT.AZ/ Ankara does not want to see relations with Berlin damaged, but they will be if the German parliament votes to recognize the deaths of Armenians in 1915 as 'genocide', Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım said Wednesday, Report informs referring to the Turkish media.

Yıldırım's remarks were delivered to reporters at Esenboğa Airport in the Turkish capital ahead of his first official visit to the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.

"We do not have anything secret or hidden...Let the past and history of all countries be investigated. But let historians do this," he said.

Last month, German lawmaker Albert Weiler announced that the country's parliament would consider voting on the Armenian resolution on Thursday this week.

Yıldırım warned that history was being made an "instrument of politics," noting that the German parliament's vote was "nonsense."

Referring to Germany's large Turkish community, Yıldırım added: "I hope that the German parliament and other decision-makers will not turn a deaf ear to 3.5 million voters. Therefore, we do not wish such a resolution to be passed," Yıldırım said.

"This is null and void for us, but we do not want [it] passed," he added.

On Tuesday, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan spoke with Chancellor Angela Merkel by phone to share Ankara's sensitivities over the resolution.

Last year, German parliamentary parties approved the resolution in principle but sent it to a committee for further work.