German President Joachim Gauck described the killings of up to 1.5 million Armenians 100 years ago by Ottoman Turks as a "genocide," and said Germany, an ally of the Ottoman Empire during World War 1, bore some responsibility. "The fate of the Armenians stands as exemplary in the history of mass exterminations, ethnic cleansing, deportations and yes, genocide, which marked the 20th Century in such a terrible way," Gauck said during a church service in Berlin.