The German Bundestag's recognition of the Armenian Genocide is the logical continuation of Pope Francis' statement during the mass commemorating the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire, orientalist Vardan Voskanyan said, when replying to ArmInfo's question whether the Pope's remarks in Yerevan can mark the beginning of a chain international recognition of the Armenian Genocide.
"The Pope's visit to Armenia has put three important circumstances in the forefront. In particular, by using the terms "Armenian Genocide" and "Mets Yeghern", Pope Francis paved the way for legal recognition of these events as genocide. In addition, the Armenian Apostolic Church is the only of the Christian churches, which is at the same level with the Catholic Church. And finally, thanks to the Pope, Armenia has become a country of pilgrimage," he said.
To recall, on 12 April 2015, Pope Francis held a mass at St. Peter's Basilica to commemorate the Armenian Genocide Centenary. During the mass, he described the killings of 1.5 mln Armenians in the Ottoman Empire as the first genocide of XX century.
On June 2, 2016, German Bundestag adopted the resolution on Armenian Genocide by a vast majority of votes. Only one parliamentarian voted against and another abstained from voting. The resolution recognizes not only the fact of Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire in the beginning of the 20th century but also Germany's responsibility for these events. Turkey, in turn, warned Berlin on the level of first ranking officials against the possible negative consequences for the Turkish-German relations in case the resolution was adopted. Ankara recalled its Ambassador to Germany Avni Karslioglu following the adoption of the resolution.