The European Parliament urged Turkey on Wednesday to recognize that the slaughter of Armenians during World War I, carried out by the Ottoman army, was a genocide.
All the political groups of the European Chamber supported the Resolution and asked Ankara, on the occasion of the commemoration of the centenary of the Armenian genocide, to assume its past and open the way to reconciliation between the Turkish and Armenian people. They also asked Turkey and Armenia to re-open the border and to ratify the protocols they signed for the establishment of diplomatic relations.
The European Chamber’s Resolution quotes Pope Francis’ statement and praises his message made in a spirit of reconciliation.
The leader of the European “Populars,” German Euro-Deputy Elmar Brok pointed out in the debate that just as Germany accepts to define the crimes of Nazism as “genocide,” Ankara must do the same.
German Socialist Euro-Deputy Knut Fleckenstein is of the same opinion. He invited to call the genocide by its name, adding that when Ankara recognizes the reality, it will take its international relations to a new level, in particular with the EU.
Cypriot Euro-Deputy Takis Hadjigeorgiou of the European Unitary Left, criticized the statements of Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, in which he depicts Pope Francis as “part of the axis of evil” against Turkey, for having described the massacre of Armenians as genocide, and considered unacceptable that in Turkish schools students are taught that there was no genocide.
Adding themselves to the appeal were the Tory Conservatives and the Liberals, whose Euro-Deputy Jean-Marie Cavada, stressed that it was not enough that last year the then Turkish Prime Minister and today President of the country, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, asked the victims for forgiveness.
Meanwhile, the Vice-President of the European Commission, Kristalina Georgieva, admitted the difference of opinions on the tragedy, without denying the “the horrible atrocity” beyond “the words we use to describe it.”
Ankara reviously rejected the vote of the European Parliament and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said: “Whatever the result of the vote of the European Union’s Parliament, it will go in one ear and immediately out the other, because Turkey cannot recognize a sin or crime of this type.”
