Sajjad Karim welcomes European Parliament's recognition of Armenian genocide

MEP Sajjad Karim MEP (pictured), who chairs the European Parliament Delegation to the European Parliament/Armenia Parliamentary Co-operation Committee, today (16 April) welcomed the adoption by the European Parliament 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 European Parliament/Armenia Parliamentary Co-operation Committee adopting similar texts in mid-March. The joint European Parliament/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 European Parliament 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.  As chairman of the PCC, Dr Karim said:  "While it is legitimate for the European Parliament to be taking a particular viewpoint on the issue, we also want to encourage both Turkey and Armenia to move in a direction which allows them to come to terms with this particular aspect of their shared history, and to start to take steps towards much closer, neighbourly relations."

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