German Nobel Prize-Winner Guenter Grass Urging Turkey Recognize Armenian Genocide

German Nobel Prize-winning author Guenter Grass urged Turkey on Wednesday to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide perpetrated in the waning days of the Ottoman Empire.

Speaking while on a visit to Istanbul, Grass said such recognition would be the most important step which Turkey could take in the direction of joining European Union.

He also recalled German Chancellor Willy Brand who had apologized Polish people in 1970 for the Holocaust, urging Turkey that it is high time that Turkish authorities follow suit and apologize the Armenians living in Armenia and in Turkey.

"Acknowledgment is not easy. But Germany did it. When will the moment arrive that the crime of the genocide of the Armenians in 1915-1916 will be recognized as fact?" he asked, adding: "I hope it will be soon."

Grass's remarks come as the latest in the ongoing controversy over Turkey's official stance regarding the Armenian Genocide when upwards of 1.5 million Armenians were killed and more than 500 were deported.

Turkey, while acknowledging the deaths of Armenians under the then Ottoman empire, vehemently rejects claims of genocide.