European Parliament Urges EU States to Recognize Armenian Genocide

European Parliament Urges EU States to Recognize Armenian Genocide –

STRASBOURG—The European Parliament on Thursday approved its Annual Report on Human Rights and Democracy in the World, in which it urged all European countries to recognize the Armenian Genocide.

 “Ahead of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, [the European Parliament calls] on all the Member States legally to acknowledge it, and encourages the Member States and the EU institutions to contribute further to its recognition,” paragraph 77 of the report states.

In welcoming the adoption of the report, the European Armenian Federation for Justice and Democracy said it expects the European Union to put pressure on Turkey and urge that country to recognize the Genocide.

“The EAFJD welcomes the resolution adopted today by the European Parliament, which puts Human Rights on top of almost all negotiations with third parties and countries. We were expecting this report since a few years now, when the post of the European Union Special Representative for Human Rights was created, to advance European Union values during negotiations, be it on foreign policy, trade, energy or any other cooperation with third countries,” said a statement issued by the advocacy group on Thursday.

“It should also be noted, that all vulnerable groups, minorities and peoples are being protected under this resolution, which is immensely necessary in these times of racism, xenophobia, and the turmoil in the Middle East, the European Neighborhood and the World as a whole,” concluded the EAFJD statement.

Last week, the Political Assembly of the European People’s Party (EPP), the largest political group in the European Parliament, adopted a resolution condemning the Armenian Genocide, and calling on Turkey to recognize it.

The resolution entitled ‘The Armenian Genocide, Turkish Responsibility, and European Values’ reaffirms EPP’s “recognition and condemnation of the Genocide and Great National Dispossession of the Armenian people on the eve of its 100th Anniversary on 24 April 2015”. The resolution emphasizes the incontrovertible evidence documented in the archives of several western states, including Germany, United Kingdom, USA, France, that the “Armenian Genocide… was perpetuated by the Young Turk Government in the final years of the Ottoman Empire.“ The resolution also criticizes the destruction of thousands of Armenian cultural monuments in Turkey.

The largest political group of the European Parliament calls on Turkey inter alia “to face history and finally recognize the ever-present reality of the Armenian Genocide”, “make restitution appropriate for a European country, including but not limited to ensuring a right of return of the Armenian people to, and a secure reconnection with, their national hearth…”