A brief reference to the Armenian genocide will be deleted from a school book in the eastern German state of Brandenburg, following Turkish diplomatic protests.

A chapter entitled War, Technology and Civilian Populations included text that cited "for example, the genocide of the Armenians population of Anatolia" - a passage that would now be removed from school textbooks, Die Welt reported on 26 January. Turkish diplomats complained to state Prime Minister Matthias Platzeck, who complied, telling the paper that genocide was too important an issue to be dealt with in just half a sentence. Most historians agree that between 600,000 and 1.5 million Armenians were killed in 1915 and 1916 under the Ottoman Turks during World War I. The Turkish government, which denies that a genocide took place, speaks of 200,000 dead.

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