Meds Yeghern[*] | European Parliament Resolution STRASBOURG—During its plenary session on Wednesday the European Parliament adopted a resolution on the centennial of the Armenian Genocide. The European Council was represented by Kalinina-Lukaševica and the European Commission by Kristalina Georgieva, Vice-President of the European Commission. The resolution on the centenary of the Armenian Genocide, which garnered support from all political groups in the European Parliament, read: “Whereas an increasing number of Member States and national parliaments recognize the Armenian Genocide perpetrated in the Ottoman Empire; whereas one of the main motivations of the European unification movement is the will to prevent the recurrence of wars and crimes against humanity in Europe; whereas the importance of keeping the memories of the past is paramount, since there can be no reconciliation without the truth and remembrance; [the European Parliament] pays tribute, on the eve of the Centenary, to the memory of the one-and-a-half million innocent Armenian victims who perished in the Ottoman Empire; joins the commemoration of the centenary of the Armenian Genocide in a spirit of European solidarity and justice; calls on the Commission and Council to join the commemoration.”
[*] Meds Yeghern is used by Armenians synonymous with Հայոց ցեղասպանություն (Hayocʿ cʿełaspanutʿyun, “Genocide of Armenians”) to refer to the Armenian Genocide the way Shoah is used by Jews to refer to the Holocaust. From the Western Armenian pronunciation of Armenian Մեծ Եղեռն (Mec Ełeṙn, literally “Great Crime”).
Mavi Boncuk |
“The European Parliament known for contriving obstacles to the development of Turkey-EU relations aspired once again to rewrite history regarding the 1915 events,” said the statement published on Wednesday on the ministry’s official website.
The statement also said that the parliament repeated the exact mistake it had made in the past in an incompatible way with international law and exceeding its competence, recalling another resolution passed by the parliament in 1987 that recognizes the 1915 events as“genocide”.
“We do not take seriously those who adopted this resolution by mutilating history and law. The participation of the EU citizens with a rate of 42% in 2014 elections already implies the place that this Parliament occupies in the political culture of the EU,” the statement reads.
Saying that the parliament’s selective and one-sided approach on the 1915 events has the potential to harm the relations between Turkey and EU, it will also fail to bring a solution to the issue between Turkey and Armenia.
The ministry reiterated that Turkey has assiduously fulfilled its duty on the 1915 events and called on Armenia to achieve such a level of maturity as soon as possible.
During its plenary session on Wednesday the European Parliament adopted a resolution on the centennial of the Armenian Genocide calling the massacre a century ago of up to 1.5 million Armenians a genocide, days after Pope Francis used the same term.
Muslim Turkey agrees Christian Armenians were killed in clashes with Ottoman soldiers that began on April 15, 1915, when Armenians lived in the empire ruled by Istanbul, but denies that this amounted to genocide.
Armenia, some Western historians and foreign parliaments refer to the mass killings as genocide.
Pope Francis sparked a diplomatic row last Sunday by calling the killings “the first genocide of the 20th century.” His remarks prompted Turkey to summon the Vatican's ambassador to the Holy See and to recall its own. The European Parliament sprang to the Pope's defense, commending the message the pontiff delivered at the weekend.
In the statement MEPs invite Armenia and Turkey to “use examples of successful reconciliation between European nations” by ratifying and implementing, without preconditions, the protocols on the establishment of diplomatic relations, opening the border and actively improving their relations, with particular reference to cross-border cooperation and economic integration.
MEPs also commend the statement by Pope Francis of 12 April “honoring the centenary of the Armenian genocide in a spirit of peace and reconciliation”.
They welcome statements by the President and Prime Minister of Turkey offering condolences and recognizing atrocities against the Ottoman Armenians and encourage Turkey to “use the commemoration of the centenary of the Armenian genocide as an important opportunity” to open its archives, “come to terms with its past”, recognize the genocide and so pave the way for a “genuine reconciliation between the Turkish and Armenian peoples”.
They also ask Turkey to conduct “in good faith” an inventory of the Armenian cultural heritage destroyed or ruined during the past century within its jurisdiction.
MEPs pay tribute to the memory of the one-and-a-half million Armenian victims who “perished in the Ottoman Empire” a hundred years ago.
Finally, they propose that an “International Remembrance Day for Genocides”, be established to “recall again the right of all peoples and all nations throughout the world to peace and dignity”.