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YEREVAN, APRIL 24, ARMENPRESS. Romanian-Armenian lawmakers Varujan Vosganian (head of the Armenia-Romania parliamentary friendship group and leader of the Union of Armenians of Romania) and Varujan Pambukchian (head of the parliamentary group on national minorities) have issued a political statement on the 105th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, calling on the Romanian parliament to adopt a resolution on acknowledging the first genocide of the 20th century.
“Starting from spring 1915, a multi-millennia civilization, which was located in its historic home, was destroyed in only a few months. By the end of WWI, 1,5 million people out of the 3 million Armenians living in historic Armenia were killed, while the remaining found refuge in exile or changed their identity,” the two lawmakers said in the statement to the parliament.
They said that if the Armenian genocide were to be recognized in the end of the WWI, then perhaps the subsequent tragedies such as the massacres of the Greek communities in the Ottoman Empire, the Holocaust, the crimes committed in Yugoslavia and most recently the genocides in Africa would not have happened.
The lawmakers reminded their colleagues that parliaments of numerous countries have adopted resolutions during the last decades recognizing the Armenian Genocide.
“In Romania, in terms of the society’s opinion, important support exists for the efforts directed at the recognition of the genocide against the Armenians. We, the signatories of this statement, believe that the time has come for the Romanian Parliament to adopt a resolution on recognizing this genocide and we express hope that many senators and members of parliament will join our approach,” the two Romanian-Armenian lawmakers said.
Editing and translating by Stepan Kocharyan