A group of deputies at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), led by the Armenian delegation, issued a written declaration on Thursday calling for the recognition of events that took place in Anatolia in 1915 as genocide.
The statement, signed by 26 deputies, asked members of PACE to “take necessary steps for the recognition of the genocide perpetrated against Armenians in the Ottoman Empire at the beginning of the 20th century.” The declaration has no binding effect on PACE.
The declaration says, “The year 2010 marks the 95th anniversary of the Armenian genocide of 1915 and the fact [is] that the act of recognition of this genocide contributes to respect for human dignity and constitutes an act of prevention of crimes against humanity.”
It claimed that a number of international bodies including the United Nations, the European Parliament, parliaments of Council of Europe member states including Sweden, Lithuania, Germany, Poland, the Netherlands, Slovakia, Switzerland, France, Italy, Belgium, Greece, Greek Cyprus and Russia, the US House of Representatives and 43 US states, Chile, Argentina, Venezuela, Canada, Uruguay and Lebanon have “demonstrated their unequivocal recognition of the Armenian genocide.”
Deputies also asked PACE to recognize the genocide and argued that “this will strongly contribute to an eventual similar act of recognition by the Turkish authorities.” “As a result, [it] will lead to the normalization of relations between Armenia and Turkey,” the statement maintained. Representatives from a number of countries including Germany, Italy, Russia, Switzerland, the UK, Ireland, Bulgaria and Lithuania signed the declaration submitted by the Armenian delegation.
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