urkish extremists rejoice: the Cologne monument to the Armenian genocide, which Turkey does not recognise, has been repeatedly erected and dismantled over the years. Sometimes the city had the statue removed on the grounds that a cycle path was to be built and sometimes for fear of “social upheaval”. After a march by Turkish nationalists, including supporters of the far-right Grey Wolves and DITIB associations, at the end of October, the city finally decided that the memorial should be removed.

The memorial was erected in Cologne in 2018 to commemorate the victims of the Armenian genocide between 1915 and 1918. At that time, between 300,000 and more than 1.5 million people were murdered in massacres and death marches under the responsibility of the Young Turk government of the Ottoman Empire, which was formed by the Committee for Unity and Progress. For international historians, the genocide is indisputable, but Turkey does not recognise the crime.
Since its inauguration next to the Kaiser Wilhelm equestrian statue, the memorial of the “Remember Genocide” initiative has repeatedly caused disputes with Turkish nationalists, who have successfully put pressure on the city. Following protests, the memorial was repeatedly removed by the city and rebuilt by activists from the initiative – although the city’s reasons for not granting the memorial permission and removing it often varied from time to time. Sometimes it was said that a cycle path was to be built and sometimes they were a little more frank – speaking of fear of “social upheaval”.

For example, Cologne’s mayor Reker recently justified herself with the “diverse interests of our pluralistic urban society”, which had to be taken into account. However, this did not stop the “Remember Genocide” initiative from putting the sculpture back up in the city centre on April 24 this year, Remembrance Day. The city then issued a special use permit until May 24. However, this was not sufficient for the campaign and they filed a legal complaint.

In addition to denying the genocide against the Armenians, the participants in the demonstration did not distance themselves from the atrocities committed by Hamas in Israel and even denied them. The chairman of the youth organisation “Fatherland Party” spoke to public broadcaster WDR about the right of Palestinians to defend themselves, explicitly including Hamas terror.

Just weeks later, the city council decided to finally abolish the “This pain affects us all” memorial at the end of 2023. Instead, a new memorial is to be erected to “commemorate the victims of oppression, racism, violence and human rights violations”. At its meeting on December 7, the city council will decide on the funding for a dialogue process in which a new memorial is to be developed. This process is expected to take two years and cost up to 350,000 euros, according to the Kölner Stadtanzeiger.

For the Turkish right-wing extremists, who have been fighting against the memorial for years, the Cologne city government’s caving in is a complete success. On Facebook, nationalists euphorically wrote: “The defamation monument will now be removed. We congratulate the Cologne city council on their decision in favour of justice!”

This is not the first time that political pressure from Turkish nationalists or diplomats in Germany has led to success: in 2005, Brandenburg removed the topic of the Armenian genocide from the curriculum due to the intervention of Turkish diplomats. In 2011, the University of Stuttgart refused to allow a lecture on the genocide due to Turkish “protests from Berlin” – the university stated that it wanted to “remain neutral”.