BERLIN—Germany took a step toward recognizing the killing of more than a million Armenians by Ottoman Turks 100 years ago as genocide, despite concern the decision could further upset relations with Turkey and stoke tensions at home.
In a debate on Friday, the German parliament initiated the adoption of a resolution that labels the massacres a genocide. While a formal vote won’t come before the summer, the vast majority of lawmakers who support the text leaves no doubt about the outcome.
Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government had initially opposed the move, but was persuaded to accept it after lawmakers in her party signaled widespread support. Berlin has been concerned about the diplomatic fallout and possible tension in the three-million strong Turkish community in Germany.
Over 20 parliaments around the world have recognized the killings of as many as 1.5 million Armenians as genocide, including the European Parliament and lawmakers of France, Italy and Greece—though not the U.S. The recognitions have prompted loud protests from Turkey.
Turkey and Armenia have been locked in a diplomatic battle in the run-up to Friday’s commemoration of the massacres. While it recognizes massacres took place, Ankara argues that there was no systematic effort to exterminate Ottoman Armenians in what is today eastern Turkey. Yerevan and the Armenian diaspora maintain it was the first genocide of the 20th century.
“The Armenians’ fate is exemplary of the history of mass destruction, ethnic cleansing, expulsion and genocide that has marked the 20th century in such a terrible way,” says the resolution debated by Germany’s lower house of parliament.
Some of Germany’s most senior state officials anticipated the move this week. President Joachim Gauck, who holds a largely ceremonial but highly respected role, described the “genocide against the Armenians” in a speech Thursday. He was echoed on Friday by Norbert Lammert, the speaker of the lower house and a Merkel ally.
The Foreign Ministry in Ankara said President Gauck attended a ceremony on Thursday, when Turkish identity, history and society were slandered by “baseless accusations.”
“Turkish people will not forget German President Gauck’s remarks, nor forgive them,” the Foreign Ministry said, accusing Germany’s head of state of disregarding the views of hundreds of thousands of Turks in Germany.
The Ankara government also called on the German parliament to take an “independent and constructive” stance on the events of 1915 to prevent “long-term negative repercussions” on Turkish-German relations.
On Wednesday, Ankara recalled its ambassador from Austria after the country’s parliament issued a declaration to recognize the massacre as genocide.
When Pope Francis called the massacres the “first genocide of the 20th century” in an April 12 sermon, Ankara recalled its ambassador to the Vatican for consultations. It also accused the European Union, which Turkey seeks to join, of racism after the European Parliament recognized the massacre as genocide earlier this month.
Ms. Merkel spoke with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Tuesday and outlined the government’s position, according to a spokeswoman.
In Germany, which is Turkey’s biggest trading partner and foreign investor, the mass killing is a sensitive topic. Germany was allied to the Ottoman Empire during World War I and didn’t intervene despite being aware of the killing, historians say. Mr. Gauck said on Thursday that Germany must come to terms with its “shared responsibility, possibly shared guilt, for the genocide against the Armenians.”
Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier had long been reluctant to endorse the genocide label. His ministry’s legal position is that the term can be applied only to events that took place after the implementation of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide adopted by the United Nations in 1948. Some conservative lawmakers ridiculed this argument this week because, they said, it would result in the Holocaust no longer being seen as genocide.
The resolution debated on Friday is a compromise between government and parliamentary negotiators that puts the genocide in the context of other mass killings and singles out the Holocaust as a singular event. Yet initial reactions show the careful wording—criticized by some historians as ambiguous—could end up antagonizing both Armenia and Turkey.
Madlen Vartian, deputy head of the Central Council of Armenians in Germany, said “the German government is more willing to acknowledge its own perpetrations than reproaching Turkey of having committed a crime against humanity. This happens out of pure consideration for Ankara.”
Bekir Yilmaz, president of the Turkish Community in Berlin, countered that 80% of Turks in Germany rejected the resolution. Although thousands of Armenians were killed, “it was not a genocide,” he said.
The German foreign ministry said on Friday morning that Turkey hadn’t yet reacted to the resolution.
Last week, Mr. Davutoglu, the Turkish premier, slammed the European Parliament’s decision, accusing Europe of ignoring the destruction of many tribes in Africa, of Native Americans, and of Aborigines in Australia. The resolution, he said, would only stoke hatred against Islam and Turks.
However, he has also offered “deep condolences” to the descendants of Armenians who died during World War I and declared they would be commemorated at the Armenian Patriarchate in Istanbul on Friday.
Write to Andrea Thomas at andrea.thomas@wsj.com and Emre Peker at emre.peker@wsj.com
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