European Parliament Votes to Join the Commemoration of the Centenary of the Armenian Genocide

On April 15, the European Parliament voted, by an overwhelming majority, to adopt a resolution to formally “join the commemoration of the centenary of the Armenian Genocide in a spirit of European, solidarity and justice.” With the resolution, Europe's elected representatives have joined the worldwide commemorations that will begin on April 24.

AGBU Europe has been involved in campaigning for the commemoration of the genocide at the European level and has helped advise members of Parliament working on this resolution. The organization has partnered with the European Grassroots Anti-Racist Movement (EGAM) and with civil society groups in Turkey, particularly DurDe! and İnsan Hakları Derneği (IHD), and has been taking part in genocide commemorations in Istanbul since 2013. The Paris-based Solidarity Europe Liberté, a think-tank dedicated to European affairs and its director, Catherine Mouradian, has also played a key role in recent work towards a commemoration in the European Parliament.

The vote followed a debate unprecedented in its length and in its number of speakers. The debate lasted more than one hour and involved more than 40 speakers. The acting chairman, Graf Lambsdorff, concluded the debate by congratulating his colleagues from all parties for the dignity and quality of the discussion. In the course of the debate, the majority of the representatives emphasized the need to commemorate and designate the events of 1915 as genocide. A similar majority emphasized that its support for the resolution should not be interpreted as a sign of hostility toward Turkey.

“It was essential that our European institutions mark the centenary of the Armenian Genocide. As many members of the European Parliament have said, when it comes to events of such magnitude as genocide, erasing our collective memory is not an option. Today, our elected representatives have spoken with dignity and clarity. They have stood by a Europe of values. I am proud to be European,” said Nicolas Tavitian, director of the European district of the Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU), an Armenian non-profit.

The resolution also called on the two other key European Union institutions—the European Union Council and European Union Commission—to join the centenary commemorations. Their representatives in Parliament—Commissioner Kristalina Georgieva of the Commission and Minister Zanda Kalnina-Lukasevica of the Council—refrained from stating on the record that their institutions would join the commemorations of the centenary. At the insistence of several members of European Parliament, Commissioner Georgieva agreed that she would “convey back in the Commission the spirit of this debate and the call [it has] already made on us.” For her part, Minister Kalnina-Lukasevica responded to the European Parliament’s invitation by referring to “diverging opinion between EU member states on the characterization of the events” and the need to be “forward looking.”

Speaking in Parliament, member of European Parliament Jean-Marie Cavada, one of the initial sponsors of the resolution, expressed a widely held view when he said: “This question is first, and emphatically, European; it concerns the past and its truths. It concerns the future and its promise. This centenary requires a dignified attitude. I thank the Parliament for this.”

In the resolution, the Parliament also “encourages [using] the commemoration of the 100 years of the Armenian Genocide as an important opportunity for Turkey to continue its efforts to come to terms with its past [and] to recognize the Armenian Genocide” and calls for the establishment of an international day for the commemoration of genocides.

AGBU Europe also welcomes the adoption of another resolution on European Union recognition of the memorial day of the Roma genocide during World War II as International Roma Day.

For the full text of the joint motion for the resolution, please see http://bit.ly/1ILaRpr.