BULGARIAN PARLIAMENT REJECTS ARMENIA GENOCIDE BILL

Agence France Presse — English
May 10, 2006 Wednesday 6:57 PM GMT

Bulgaria’s parliament rejected Wednesday a resolution from an
ultra-nationalist party calling on it to recognise as genocide
massacres of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire.

Of the 170 deputies present in the 240-seat parliament, 81 voted
against, 56 supported it and there were 33 abstentions.

The nationalist Ataka (Attack) party had called for parliament to
declare May 24 “a day of remembrance for the victims of Armenian
genocide under the Ottoman Empire”.

But the ruling Socialist-led coalition rejected the proposal, with
left-wing deputies saying it was only aimed at straining ties with
Turkey and relations within the three-party government, which includes
a Turkish minority party.

Armenians claim up to 1.5 million of their kin were slaughtered between
1915 and 1917, as the Ottoman Empire, modern Turkey’s predecessor,
was falling apart but Turkey categorically rejects the claims.