During a 2015 debate about Germany 's recognition of the Armenian Genocide on the occasion of its centenary , Steinmeier was the politician most reluctant to endorse it , mainly because of Germany 's relations with Turkey . He was widely criticized for his position and accused of Armenian Genocide denial . When the German Bundestag almost unanimously approved a resolution in 2016 that recognises the killings of up to 1.5 million Armenians by Ottoman forces as a genocide , a description that Turkey strongly rejects , Steinmeier abstained from the vote and criticized the resolution in public ; Steinmeier was one of only two of the 630 members of parliament who did not support the resolution . And Steinmeier alleged that calling Armenian massacres genocide risks belittling the Holocaust , which drew sharp rejection from German journalist Henryk Broder
centenary
100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide
Frank-Walter Steinmeier