Schröder Federal Chancellery, 1998–2005 In November 1998, Steinmeier was appointed as Secretary of State, a junior Chancellery bureaucrat, and Commissioner for the Federal Intelligence Services at the office of the chancellor following
Schröder's election victory. He replaced
Bodo Hombach as the head of the
office of the chancellor in 1999, after the latter entered European Union politics. He retained his Secretary of State rank and therefore was the only Head of the Chancellery to not be appointed Minister for Special Affairs, i. e. not to have cabinet rank, from 1984 to today. During this period, Steinmeier was also one of the advisors to Schröder. In 2003, he supported Schröder in his controversial decision to forge a coalition with Russia and France against the U.S.-led
war against Iraq. Meanwhile, he approved the decision to install a German intelligence officer in the Qatar-based office of General
Tommy Franks, the American commander of the U.S. invasion in Iraq, who passed on to the United States information being gathered in
Baghdad by two German intelligence officers operating there. In 2004, Steinmeier participated in diplomatic negotiations settling on compensation payments with Libya for victims of the
1986 terrorist bombing of the LaBelle disco in Berlin. A major controversy during Steinmeier's term as chief of staff was the imprisonment of a German-born Turk,
Murat Kurnaz, in
Guantánamo Bay from 2002 until August 2006. Steinmeier denied during a parliamentary inquiry in March 2007 that he had blocked Kurnaz's release. Instead, he claimed that Berlin had feared Kurnaz was a threat and should go to Turkey, not Germany, if released. Only after Merkel's election was Kurnaz released and brought back to Germany.
First term as Foreign Minister, 2005–2009 On 22 November 2005, after the
2005 federal elections, Steinmeier became Minister of Foreign Affairs in the
Grand coalition cabinet led by
Angela Merkel. During his time in office, Steinmeier was widely regarded as having good working relations with Angela Merkel, but often took a different stance on foreign affairs. In one significant foreign policy disagreement, Steinmeier held in 2009 that Germany should by 2013 lay the groundwork for withdrawing its troops from Afghanistan, a deployment that around two-thirds of Germans opposed by then. Unlike Merkel, he also favoured Turkish entry into the European Union. He formulated a policy toward Russia deliberately reminiscent of "
Ostpolitik", the eastward-facing policy pioneered by Chancellor
Willy Brandt in the early 1970s. Together with Gernot Erler, the SPD's leading Russia expert and the deputy foreign minister, Steinmeier in 2008 initiated Germany's so-called Partnership for Modernization with Russia, which became an official EU policy in 2010. Pressed by lawmakers to say more on his attitude toward Russia in the wake of the high-profile murders of opposition figures
Anna Politkovskaya and
Alexander Litvinenko at a January 2007 hearing at the
European Parliament, Steinmeier stated that "[t]here is a certain trend toward [media] hysterics and one needs to get a sense of reason back into the debate". Dr Frank Umbach had warned as early as February 2006 that Germany had become too dependent on Russia but Steinmeier, citing the new
Ostpolitik, disregarded him. In March 2007, Steinmeier published a long article in reply to Umbach explaining his rationale on the EU being such an exceptional role model on international cooperation that Putinite Russia would unavoidably get "like us" by mere "intertwining of interests" (
Verflechtung), and also that "a pan-European peace order and a lasting solution to important security problems (...) can only be achieved with Russia, not without it or even against it". Steinmeier helped to admit Putin's Russia into the
World Trade Organization (WTO), On 18 December 2007, Steinmeier and
Dmitry Medvedev signed an agreement on behalf of
BASF to exploit another gas field. At the time, 40% of German demand was satisfied by Russian supply. In May 2008, he became the first foreign official to hold talks with President
Dmitri Medvedev and Prime Minister
Vladimir Putin after they took up their new positions following the
2008 Russian presidential election. In 2006,
Foreign Affairs published an analysis of the state of US and Russian nuclear forces, concluding that post-Cold War US nuclear forces seemed designed to carry out a preemptive strike against Russia or China and that the planned missile defense would be valuable primarily in an offensive context as an adjunct to a US
first-strike capability. The article elicited a semi-official Russian response from ex-PM
Yegor Gaidar in the
Financial Times a few days later. In 2007, the US government was reportedly deeply irritated, although publicly silent, about Steinmeier, who had sounded supportive of Russian accusations that a planned
US missile defense complex in Poland would upset the strategic balance in Europe – and who then left without challenge Russian General Nikolai Solovtsov's threat of retaliation against Poland and the Czech Republic if they deployed U.S. defensive systems. Russian opposition activists later celebrated when Steinmeier and the SDP lost the 2009 election, signaling their discontent with Steinmeier.
Oleg Petrovich Orlov, head of the
Memorial human rights group, said that Steinmeier had prolonged Schröder's policies on Russia and that Germany's policies were "extremely bad for civil society, democracy and the country as a whole". In February 2009, Steinmeier became the first member of Merkel's cabinet to be received by the incoming
Obama administration. During his time in office, Steinmeier managed to extract German hostages from Iraq and Yemen. Steinmeier served as acting chairman of the SPD from 7 September 2008 to 18 October 2008. Domestically, throughout his term, he was the only major politician with approval ratings consistently as high as or higher than Merkel's. This was helped by the especially high ratings foreign ministers generally receive in Germany. In his election campaign, he argued for new tax rules to deter high executive pay and bonuses, and for minimum wages to slow the growing gap between Germany's highest and lowest earners. After the SPD's decisive defeat in the elections – the party's worst performance since
World War II by then – Steinmeier, who had been elected to represent
Brandenburg an der Havel – Potsdam-Mittelmark I – Havelland III – Teltow-Fläming I, was elected
Peter Struck's successor as chairman of the SPD's parliamentary group in the
Bundestag, and as such leader of the opposition. After a hospitalisation for donating a kidney to his wife in August 2010, Steinmeier returned to his office in October 2010. During his time as leader of the parliamentary opposition, Steinmeier regularly accused Angela Merkel's government of increasing the national debt and pandering to the rich. In 2011, Steinmeier argued that Merkel's decision to appoint her economics adviser,
Jens Weidmann, to be the next head of the
Bundesbank undermined the political independence and public trust in the German central bank. In late 2012, Steinmeier was once again considered a possible candidate to challenge Chancellor Angela Merkel in the 2013 general election, but soon withdrew from the contest. As a consequence, SPD leadership nominated
Peer Steinbrück.
Second term as Foreign Minister, 2013–2017 in March 2015 in
Tehran, February 2016 After the
elections of 2013 and the new grand coalition government, Steinmeier was appointed foreign minister for a second time in December 2013. He replaced
Guido Westerwelle, who had signed the
P5+1 accord with Iran in November 2013. His deputies were
Michael Roth (SPD) and
Maria Böhmer (CDU). Upon taking office, Steinmeier initiated an ambitious review of Germany's foreign policy, holding meetings nationwide and drawing in more than 12,000 people who worked at the ministry or abroad. Over the course of 2014, Steinmeier alternated with Merkel as Germany's most popular politician in polls of eligible voters. In light of criticism from the United States, Steinmeier stood firm on Germany's approach in the
Russo-Ukrainian War, where it was balancing support for European economic sanctions on Russia with leaving the door open to a revived partnership. In May 2014, he proposed a greater mediation role for the
OSCE, including the convening of local "round table" talks in Ukraine to defuse conflicts. The
Steinmeier formula, as it is known to readers of Russian media, is synonymous with the
Minsk II agreement. Between 2015 and 2016, Steinmeier hosted a series of
Normandy format meetings in Berlin to negotiate a solution of the
situation in the East of Ukraine. During the
Minsk II talks on a ceasefire for eastern Ukraine in early 2015, he successfully negotiated with Russian President
Vladimir Putin on allowing German doctors to visit Ukrainian military pilot
Nadiya Savchenko, who had been on hunger strike for more than two months in a Russian jail. Steinmeier has repeatedly ruled out arms shipments to resolve the conflict, and that was German policy until two days after the 24 February
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, at which time Chancellor
Olaf Scholz ended it. In 2015, Steinmeier hosted a meeting of the delegations from Libya's two rival governments, who were battling for control of the country, and United Nations Special Representative
Bernardino León to discuss a UN-sponsored peace and power-sharing proposal despite splits among some of the parties. Steinmeier later was instrumental in convening the International Syria Support Group (ISSG) and the
Syria peace talks in Vienna in October 2015, drawing together
Saudi Arabia; its main regional rival,
Iran; as well as Russia, the United States and other Western powers and regional actors including
Turkey and
Iraq.
Political positions Human rights In the past,
Human Rights Watch has labeled Steinmeier as "
Realpolitik advocate", for whom, "when it comes to defining his relationship with countries" such as Russia, China,
Iran and
Saudi Arabia, "human rights play only a subordinate role". In Steinmeier's opinion, the "[r]ejection of capital punishment is one of the keystones of German human-rights policy. The death penalty goes against our fundamental ethic and moral principles". He personally called for the abolition of the
death penalty in Uzbekistan; capital punishment in Uzbekistan has been abolished since 2008. In April 2014, he summoned the Egyptian ambassador, Mohamed Higazy, after a
Cairo court sentenced 683 individuals to death for inciting violence during protests in summer 2013, following the military overthrow of elected President
Mohammed Morsi. Following the
2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt, he warned that any move by Turkey to reinstate the death penalty would derail its efforts to join the European Union. He criticised the
2016–present purges in Turkey. In response to the
2009 Iranian presidential election protests following the
2009 Iranian presidential election against the disputed victory of Iranian President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Steinmeier condemned what he called "brutal actions" against demonstrators in Tehran and summoned the Iranian ambassador
Alireza Sheikhattar to explain.
European integration , German Chancellor
Angela Merkel, Steinmeier, and
Anna Fotyga in Brussels, June 2007 After Germany had only narrowly managed to avoid a deficit warning from the
European Commission in 2002, Schröder and Steinmeier became the driving forces behind weakening the
Stability and Growth Pact, a rule-based framework for the coordination of national fiscal policies originally intended as the guarantor of a stable euro. In a joint article in the
Financial Times on 14 December 2010, Steinmeier and
Peer Steinbrück proposed to solve the
European debt crisis with "a combination of a haircut for debt holders, debt guarantees for stable countries and the limited introduction of European-wide bonds in the medium term, accompanied by more aligned fiscal policies". In February 2011, Steinmeier proposed Steinbrück as a candidate to lead the European Central Bank. Under Steinmeier's parliamentary leadership, the Social Democrats raised pressure on Chancellor
Angela Merkel to agree to more burden-sharing to stem the
euro zone crisis, repeatedly calling on her to assume greater risks to avert a breakup of the single currency. In both February and November 2012, his parliamentary group voted largely in favour of the Merkel government's proposal for
eurozone bailout packages for Greece, while criticising the measures as being "not an enduring solution for the Greeks". In July 2014, he helped build the opposition's support for a euro zone rescue package for Spanish banks. Later, as foreign minister, he publicly advised against "frivolous" talk of a
Greek withdrawal from the eurozone, calling for a serious search for a solution. Reacting to a growth of euro-skeptic political parties across Europe by early 2014, Steinmeier offered the United Kingdom limited support on renegotiating the
Treaties of the European Union, saying Germany wanted to see Britain's influence in the "midst" of the EU, not on "the sidelines". After Britain's vote to leave the EU in 2016, he argued that the union lacked the cohesion to undertake major new integration steps and should instead focus on migration, high youth unemployment and security. At the same time, Steinmeier worked to develop new formats and revive new ones. In December 2014, he met with the foreign ministers from the three
Nordic countries Denmark,
Finland and Sweden –
Margot Wallström,
Erkki Tuomioja and
Martin Lidegaard – for the so-called "N3 + 1" format to discuss issues of common concern for the first time. In August 2016, he joined French foreign minister
Jean-Marc Ayrault in pledging to "reinvigorate" the
Weimar Triangle and published a document "A strong Europe in a world of uncertainties". Between 2014 and 2016, he visited the three
Baltic states –
Estonia,
Latvia and
Lithuania – six times, the highest number of visits by any German Foreign Minister. Also in late 2014, Steinmeier and his British counterpart
Philip Hammond united in a bid to end a deadlock in relations between
Bosnia and the European Union, arguing that the EU should abandon its insistence on changes to Bosnia's electoral code as a precondition for a
Stabilization and Association Agreement on the path to EU membership.
Energy policy In 2007, Steinmeier said he opposes European Commission proposals on unbundling the ownership of energy networks in the European Union, as it was proposed in the
Third Energy Package.
Relations with France , March 2016 On 14 May 2014, Steinmeier became the first German foreign minister to attend a meeting of the
French cabinet. Together with his French counterpart
Laurent Fabius, he flew on several joint diplomatic missions between 2014 and 2015, including to
Moldova, Georgia,
Tunisia,
Nigeria and
Bangladesh. In 2016, he joined Fabius' successor
Jean-Marc Ayrault for trips to
Ukraine,
Libya,
Mali and
Niger.
Relations with Russia In May 2007, the daily
Financial Times Deutschland reported that Steinmeier had served as mediator in the so-called
Bronze Night controversy, an Estonia-Russia dispute over the removal of a
Red Army memorial in
Tallinn. According to the report, Steinmeier suggested the Estonian ambassador to Russia,
Marina Kaljurand, go on vacation in an effort to calm the situation. Steinmeier called his Russian counterpart
Sergey Lavrov to suggest not only that Kaljurand take a holiday, but also that Russia drop the dispute for the time being. After speaking with Lavrov, Steinmeier reportedly called Estonian Foreign Minister
Urmas Paet and got him to agree to the deal. Kaljurand left Moscow for a two-week vacation and pro-Kremlin youth activists blockading the Estonian embassy in Moscow ended their protests the same day. Upon returning to government in late 2013, Steinmeier criticised Russia in his inaugural speech for exploiting Ukraine's economic plight to prevent it from signing the
Ukraine–European Union Association Agreement. In March 2014, he defended Russia's membership of the
G8, saying "The format of the G8 is actually the only one in which we in the West can speak directly with Russia." When Germany held the chairmanship of the group in 2015, he maintained that excluding Russia over its actions in Ukraine was a necessary step but not a goal in itself; citing the Middle East, he argued that "a look at the world shows that we need Russia as a constructive partner in a number of conflicts". In April 2014 Steinmeier argued that a policy of de-escalation towards Russia was necessary, instead of the sanctions which were applied in the wake of the
2014 annexation of Crimea. In a 2015 letter to
Cecilia Malmström, the EU's trade chief, Steinmeier proposed a joint declaration between the EU and Russia offering Moscow the prospect of long-sought investment and energy concessions to create a more integrated economic area from the Atlantic to the Pacific. According to the letter, "by the content of this declaration we could respond to Russia's wishes and begin a closer exchange of views on energy and investment protection issues, even if the
Ukraine–European Union Association Agreement does not directly touch on them". In June 2016, Steinmeier criticised
NATO "warmongering" on Russia: "The one thing we shouldn't do now is inflame the situation with loud sabre-rattling and warmongering." The CDU politicians
Volker Bouffier and
Herbert Reul criticised him for his stance on Russia, while his comments were welcomed by the Russian media. In their book
Das Schröder-Netzwerk und Deutschlands Weg in die Abhängigkeit Die Moskau-Connection, journalists Bingener and Wehner describe the network around Schröder and his support for Putin's policies. Steinmeier was part of that network. Bingener and Wehner write that Steinmeier considered Putin to be rational and accessible. Steinmeier also did not draw any conclusions from the
annexation of Crimea in February 2014. Steinmeier did not resolutely oppose Putin's logic, in which there is only winning and losing. Bingener and Wehner:
Relations with the United States Steinmeier voiced his support for
Barack Obama when Obama was still a presidential candidate, and supported Obama's wish to deliver a speech before the iconic
Brandenburg Gate during the 2008 U.S. presidential campaign. In 2016 Steinmeier described then-U.S. presidential candidate
Donald Trump as a "hate preacher". After Trump's election, Steinmeier refused to congratulate him, and condemned
Trump's views. He has been described as "the German government's most strident detractor" of Trump.
Relations with Central Asia During a 2006 meeting with Turkmen President
Saparmurat Niyazov, Steinmeier criticized
Turkmenistan for its slow progress in implementing the
rule of law and human rights and said that the state's progress in carrying out political reforms had been "too halting". When Germany chaired a United Nations group aimed at resolving
2008 Russo-Georgian diplomatic crisis, Steinmeier presented to the three conflict parties –
Georgia,
Abkhazia and
Russia – a plan which included a three-stage peace proposal, entailing an end to violence, confidence-building measures over the following year that could lead to the resumption of direct talks between Georgia and Abkhazia, and the return of about 250,000 Georgian refugees to Abkhazia. However, both Georgia and Abkhazia rejected the proposal. In September 2008, Steinmeier called for an international probe into the conflict over Georgia's breakaway provinces. During a 2014 visit to the country, he reiterated that membership of
NATO and of the EU would remain off the cards for a long while to come. In August 2006, Steinmeier made his first visit to
Afghanistan, where Germany had taken over the command of the 21,000-strong NATO-led
International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) shortly before. Ahead of the
2009 federal elections, Steinmeier – then still in his capacity as foreign minister – commissioned an internal report on Germany's engagement in Afghanistan which recommended that Germany should start pulling out of the country within four years; at the time, this was seen as a stark departure from Steinmeier's earlier insistence Germany should not set a date for withdrawing its then 4,200-strong contingent from the north of Afghanistan as the move could play into the hands of Taliban insurgents. In October 2014, Steinmeier visited both
Armenia and
Azerbaijan to facilitate a negotiated solution to the long-standing conflict over
Nagorny Karabakh, a region of Azerbaijan controlled by
ethnic Armenians. In 2016, he returned to both countries to in his capacity as chairman of the
Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) to reinvigorate the talks.
Israeli–Palestinian conflict in Jerusalem, November 2023 and President Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier visit Kibbutz
Be'eri, where Steinmeier pledged 7 million euros for the reconstruction of Kibbutz Be'eri's gallery that was burned by
Hamas, 27 November 2023 In the
Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Steinmeier supports a
two-state solution and calls for an end to the Israeli occupation of the
Palestinian territories. He welcomed the
United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334 and said the
Israeli settlements on occupied territory form an obstacle to peace and a two-state solution. He further said that "a democratic Israel is achievable only through a two-state-solution". Steinmeier praised
the speech by
United States Secretary of State John Kerry which outlined the United States' position on the Israeli–Palestinian conflict in December 2016; in the speech Kerry said a peace agreement must be based on the 1967 lines, that all citizens must enjoy equal rights, that occupation must end, that the Palestinian refugee issue must be resolved, and that
Jerusalem must be the capital of both states, and criticised the Netanyahu government's agenda as driven by "extreme elements". Steinmeier voiced support for Israel during the
Gaza war. He called on
Arabs living in Germany to distance themselves from
Hamas. Amid the 60th anniversary of German-Israeli diplomatic relations, Steinmeier and Israeli President
Isaac Herzog demonstrated differing assessments of Israeli policies in Gaza, while acknowledging the difficult humanitarian situation. Herzog characterised Israel as a "wall protecting freedom and humanity," whereas Steinmeier reiterated calls for immediate humanitarian aid and lifting the
blockade, stating such aid is needed "not someday but now. Steinmeier's 45-minute meeting with Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem drew domestic criticism in Germany.
Amnesty International Germany's Secretary General Julia Duchrow described the meeting as an "unnecessary helping hand" to Netanyahu and an "affront to the victims," especially as experts warn of a humanitarian catastrophe and potential
starvation in Gaza.
Relations with Iran countries, the
European Union and
Iran after agreeing on the
Iran nuclear deal, Lausanne, Switzerland on 2 April 2015. Steinmeier visited Iran in October 2015 – it was the first extended visit by a
German foreign minister to Iran in 12 years. After meeting his Iranian counterpart
Mohammed Javad Zarif, Steinmeier said that while Berlin and Tehran did not have congruent views on the Syrian conflict, they had "a common interest in ensuring an end to the killings." Iran, along with Russia, was a key backer of the Syrian government. The conflict had killed more than 250,000 people at the time, according to UN estimates. Pointing to the conflicts in Syria, Yemen and Iraq, Steinmeier underlined: "The region needs more diplomacy, not less." Steinmeier saw the nuclear agreement between Iran and the Group 5+1 (
Russia,
China, the
United States,
United Kingdom,
France and
Germany), the
Comprehensive agreement on the Iranian nuclear programme (JCPOA), that allowed Iran to maintain a civilian nuclear program from April 2015 as "an opening for further diplomatic endeavors" to resolve the
conflicts in the Middle East. The Group 5+1 had agreed to lift the
international sanctions against Iran. Steinmeier is a proponent of the
Iran nuclear deal framework, After the
2026 Iran war had started, with the United States and
Israel attacking targets in Iran in March 2026, Steinmeier concluded that this war was a "fatal mistake" and a violation of
International law. He referred to the 2015 Nuclear deal he had helped to negotiate and that Donald Trump had cancelled that deal during his first term and was now waging war against Iran, without Iran posing an imminent threat to the United States.
Relations with the Arab world Steinmeier has visited the
Zaatari refugee camp in
Jordan twice to learn more about the plight of
Syrians fleeing the violence in the ongoing
Syrian civil war that erupted in 2011, first in his capacity as chairman of the SPD parliamentary group in May 2013 and later as foreign minister in May 2015. In early 2014, upon taking office as foreign minister, he agreed with Chancellor
Angela Merkel and Defence Minister
Ursula von der Leyen that Germany would help destroy Syria's arsenal of chemical weapons materials as part of an international disarmament program. In October 2014, he co-chaired the Berlin Conference on the Syrian Refugee Situation along with Development Minister
Gerd Müller and the
UN High Commissioner for Refugees,
António Guterres. In March 2015, Steinmeier said he "can understand"
Saudi Arabia's decision to mount a
military intervention in Yemen and acknowledged the operation had "support from the region". However, he said the crisis could not be solved by violence and urged a negotiated solution. In February 2025, Steinmeier arrived in
Riyadh,
Saudi Arabia, where he was welcomed by
Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman. He called Saudi Arabia "a key player" in the region. During the four-day trip, he also visited
Turkey and met with Turkish President
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Relations with Greece In 2015, Steinmeier rejected claims for
war reparations from the Greek
Syriza party in response to Germany's position on the
Greek government-debt crisis. When incoming Greek Prime Minister
Alexis Tsipras, in his first major speech to parliament in early 2015, pledged to seek war reparations from Germany, Steinmeier replied to Greek Foreign Minister
Nikos Kotzias that Germany was fully aware of its political and moral responsibility for the "terrible events" in Greece between 1941 and 1944 when German troops occupied the country. "Still, we are firmly convinced that all reparations issues, including forced loans, are judicially settled once and for all," Steinmeier said.
Relations with Namibia At the state memorial service for deceased Namibian president
Hage Geingob in
Windhoek on 24 February 2024, Steinmeier said that it was "high time" for Germany to "tender an apology to
Namibia" for the
Herero and Nama genocide from 1904 to 1908.
Controversies Refusal to meet with the Dalai Lama Steinmeier openly attacked Merkel over her 2007 meeting with the
Dalai Lama, accusing the chancellor of "playing to public opinion" without regard for the effectiveness of the meeting in improving political or religious rights on the ground in China. In 2008, he refused to meet the Dalai Lama during his five-day visit, arguing that such a meeting could undermine international efforts to promote sustained contact between China and
Tibet. Instead, Steinmeier issued the statement "it takes a lot of courage not to meet with the Dalai Lama these days", which
The New York Times described as "extraordinarily cynical" and accused Steinmeier of prioritizing business interests over human rights.
Murat Kurnaz torture case In the case of
Murat Kurnaz, innocently imprisoned in 2002 and tortured by the
United States, Steinmeier allegedly had an offer by the
United States Department of Defense and the
CIA already in September 2002 regarding a transfer of Murat Kurnaz to Germany, where he was born and raised. Kurnaz had been first sold as a terror suspect in
Pakistan, then imprisoned in
Afghanistan and later in
Guantanamo Bay Naval Base,
Cuba, until 2006. By refusing the offer, Steinmeier is thought to have been politically directly responsible for his continued imprisonment. A BND commission of enquiry was consulted.
Armenian genocide denial During a 2015 debate about Germany's
recognition of the Armenian genocide on the occasion of its
100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, 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.
Plagiarism allegations Following the
2013 elections, Steinmeier became the first prominent member of the Social Democrats to be confronted with allegations that he
plagiarised parts of his 1991 doctoral dissertation about the role of the state in the prevention of homelessness. The committee did find "technical weaknesses" in Steinmeier's citations, but said they were not severe enough to consider revoking his degree. == Presidency (2017–present) ==