YEREVAN, JULY 11, ARMENPRESS. Filip Clem, expert of the Parliament of Romania, submitted a proposal to officially recognize the Armenian Genocide by Romania.

Armenpress presents the text of the proposal:

Romania can recognize the 1915-1923 Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire

In the current situation Romania will not lost and endanger anything if it officially recognizes the tragic events of 1915-1923 in the Ottoman Empire and the republic following it as the “Armenian Genocide”.

In 2018 on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Romanian state, Romania can do this gesture of diplomatic courtesy and historical solidarity.  

The ongoing developments in the Middle East greatly weakened Turkey’s reputation in the region. Today Turkey is a major political and military power, but it no more enjoys the same democracy until July 2016. The US and NATO have cautious attitude towards Ankara and are afraid of expansion of political Islam within the state circle. Moreover, Russian-Iran regional alliance also has similar cautious attitude. Turkey will not voluntarily withdraw from NATO.

There is mutual disappointment in Ankara’s relations with the EU. Turkey wants to act as a global power, although in medium size, independent, sovereign, as a possible candidate for a permanent member of the UN Security Council.

Romania has avoided to publicly acknowledge the Armenian Genocide being afraid of angering Turkey. Now the context has changed. Many EU and NATO member states have officially acknowledged this historical tragedy or demonstrated favorable attitude for its recognition. Romani’s relations with Turkey have frozen to some extent: a mutual caution has emerged.

We made a lot of efforts for official recognition of the Holocaust in the WWII which resulted in paroxysm within the public. We have established the Elie Wiesel Institute through the public funds. During each official visit of the Romanian President or the Prime Minister to the US the visit to Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC is mandatory. We commemorate the memory of the Holocaust victims several times a year via conferences, seminars, laying wreaths and various events. We got used to this…

We want to reach the international recognition of the Romanian genocide committed by the Soviet authorities and the army during the WWII and after that.

How should the official recognition of the Armenian Genocide be done by Romania?

It’s not difficult, but first of all it should be based on political will and consensus. There is an international practice which is not so complicated in this sense.

The Parliament adopts a resolution as a result of the voting of plenary session of the two chambers which is being released in the Office Journal. In the extreme case, only the stance of one chamber of the Parliament will be enough, however, we would consider this as a partial gesture. The text of such resolution is not a standard at international level. It must be officially recognized that the respective events are called as “genocide” in accordance with the “Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide” adopted by the UN General Assembly on December 9, 1948. It may also have a reference to the fact that other national parliaments and/or international organizations have already recognized it.

Likewise, the President of Romania in his some official speeches must talk about these events calling them as “genocide” and must sent a letter of condolences to Armenia and the Armenian people by strictly condemning these atrocities and etc.

The Government and the Parliament can decide a day of the calendar year (perhaps April 24) to commemorate this tragedy in our country. A number of scientific conferences are being organized with participation of the Romanian Academy, as well as several representatives of Romanian Orthodox and Armenian Churches, central or local authorities, and of course, representatives of the Armenian community of Romania.

In terms of foreign policy the Ministry of Foreign Affairs can inform the Romanian diplomats in foreign countries that the Romanian state made a decision to officially recognize the Armenian Genocide. Therefore, the Ambassadors of Armenia and Turkey in Bucharest, maybe the entire diplomatic corps, will be officially informed about it.

It depends on what kind of volume and emphasis we want to put on this fact. I think for our country it would be enough to do what is necessary: institutional steps for official recognition, plus some domestic cultural events, no more than this. It would not be useful for us to surprise someone with this issue. We also do not need to deliberately insult Turkey. It’s a moral issue, a matter of principle, a historical solidarity, as well as a natural gesture of political opportunity at the moment. If Ankara threatens us to cut diplomatic ties, it is first of all their problem, and it will not be a beneficial step for them.

In the public education teachers at world history class can talk about this episode as an actual genocide, ethnic cleansing. Unfortunately, it’s not the only case in history.

There is an article in Wikipedia on official recognition at international level according to which till now 29 states (including also the US) and several international structures have officially or indirectly acknowledged this genocide.

The current regional context enables to treat Turkey calmly which will be mutually beneficial. Only Armenia’s geopolitical closeness to the Russian Federation remains. This is the only inconvenience for Romania which is firmly attached to NATO, however this should not be a hindering factor in this regard. Eventually, our states must recognize what has been already recognized by other Euro-Atlantic states.

There are many articles published about this material. Recently there are more and more favorable opinions among our public over the recognition of the genocide. The efforts of the Armenian community resulted in organizing a number of conferences and cultural events.