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Sajjad Karim MEP, who co-chairs the European Parliament (EP) Delegation to the EP/Armenia Parliamentary Cooperation Committee, today welcomed the adoption by the EP Plenary of a Joint Resolution on the 100th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.

MEPs paid tribute to the memory of the 1.5 million innocent Armenian victims who perished in 1915-1917. While these tragic events took place in the times of the Ottoman Empire, the European Parliament has reiterated its formal position, adopted as early as 1987, that genocide did in fact take place, as defined by the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide of 1948.

This resolution follows both the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly and the EP/Armenia Parliamentary Cooperation Committee adopting similar texts in mid-March. The joint EP/Armenia PCC statement, in particular, had strongly hoped that the legacy of the past could be overcome by the normalization of Turkey - Armenia relations, without any preconditions.

The EP Plenary, in turn, encourages both countries to focus on an agenda that puts cooperation between both their people first, believing this will contribute to historical reconciliation.

Speaking during today's plenary session in the European Parliament, Dr Karim said:

"It's quite clear that whilst President Erdogan may take the view that he is going to ignore what this house has to say, how long is he going to ignore all of those Turkish people that are saying exactly what we have said in our resolution.

I say to the Turks and I say to the Armenians - our intent is constructive. We want to help you both to move forward towards normalization of relations, but to do that we must first stand by our own core principles."

 

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