YEREVAN. – The People’s Council (Parliament) of Syria on Tuesday held a special session dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.

Council Speaker Mohammad Jihad al-Laham opened the session, the press service of the Armenian Foreign Ministry reported.

“The coming days coincide with the centennial of the Armenian Genocide. In this regard, we express our absolute solidarity with the friendly Armenian people as well as our Syrian Armenian compatriots, who fell victims to the heinous genocide by the Ottoman authorities.

“Today we recall the most horrible and tragic remembrance known to history. We call on the international community and all the peoples in the world to stand together against the murderers, executioners and terrorism that pose a threat to the Middle East, in order to prevent further crimes against humanity, civilization and history,” Al-Laham specifically noted in his opening remarks. 

Afterwards, Mohammad Jihad al-Laham requested the MPs of the People’s Council of Syria to stand up and observe a minute of silence in memory of the more than 1.5 million innocent victims of the Armenian Genocide.

At the session, over twenty MPs representing different factions and the chairpersons of permanent committees delivered speeches, in which they strongly condemned this grave crime committed against the Armenian people in the Ottoman Empire, at the same time, calling on the international community to condemn the 20th century’s first genocide perpetrated against humanity.