People in Turkish district disown Turkish-origin German MP

TOKAT

The hometown of Turkish-origin German lawmaker Cem Özdemir has disowned the MP, after he played an active role in the Bundestag’s approval of a resolution recognizing the World War I-era killings of Anatolian Armenians at the hands of Ottomans as “genocide.”

The Pazar district in the northern province of Tokat announced they no longer accept the fact that Özdemir, the co-chair of the Greens in Germany, was from their village on June 9. 

“The fact that the person who prepared this resolution and brought it to the agenda is Turkish and that he is from Pazar saddened us twice. First of all, we condemn the German parliament that approved this bill,” said Pazar Mayor Şerafettin Pervanlar, while adding that they were protesting the fact that Özdemir voted “yes.”  

The decision was given by the municipal council of Pazar unanimously in an extraordinary meeting, Doğan News Agency reported. 

Meanwhile, the only German MP who rejected the bill, Bettina Kudla, was accepted as an “honorary countrywoman” in the same meeting.