Socialist party member in the Belgian parliament Emir Kir, Turkish by origin, will have to provide explanation for his absence during observing a minute of silence to commemorate the Armenian Genocide victims.

Chairman of the Socialist party Elio Di Rupo said the MP will have to provide explanation to the General Secretary of the party.

Several MPs of Turkish origin who are representing other parties were also absent from the ceremony in the Belgian parliament, La Libre reported.

The leader of French-speaking socialists reminded about his party's consistent position on the matter. The party was one of the initiators of the 1998 resolution recognizing the Armenian Genocide and calling for recognition by Turkey.

As reported earlier, the conference of the Chamber of Representatives of the Belgian Federal Parliament decided to honor the memory of Armenian Genocide victims with one minute of silence before Thursday’s session.

The Socialist Party of Belgium has come under fire recently due to this one minute of silence. The proposal to honor the genocide victims in such a way was initially rejected for “technical” reasons.

A socialist party MP had explained that they had proposed the Brussels legislature to also pay tribute, with that one minute of silence, the victims of the ship that sunk recently in the Mediterranean Sea. Some people, however, saw efforts in this proposal toward not offending the Turkish community.