During the ‘European Literature in Turkey: Turkish Literature in Europe’ cultural project, organized in Istanbul, Nobel Prize-winning German writer Günter Grass stated that ‘it is time for Turkey to apologize to the Armenians for the massacres of 1915. In his speech at the meeting Günter Grass, world-famous German author and playwright, mentioned that Turkey is to face its history and take its past into account. He told that he had been under the influence of Nazis in 1940s: when he saw pictures of Jews taken in concentration camps, he thought it was propaganda, not more. ‘Nonetheless I did not believe in what I was saying,’ Grass said. He added that it is easier to face the reality and accept it ‘just the way Germany did’. ‘When does Turkey intend to accept the fact of the massacres committed against the Armenians? It is time for the Turkish state to apologize to the Armenians,’ Günter Grass said. He avoided using the word “genocide” by saying that it is up to Turkey to define the events of 1915.
