CDA candidates recognize Armenian Genocide

ANP
22 September 2006

THE HAGUE (ANP) – CDA parliamentary members Ayhan Tonca and Osman
Elmaci recognize that Turkey committed a genocide against the Armenians
in 1915. In a statement, they said that they conform to the motion
of the ChristenUnie, in which the Armenian Genocide is addressed.

In December 2004, the Parliament, initiated by the ChristenUnie,
unanimously agreed that the Dutch government should continuously raise
the Armenian massacres in all of its negotiations with Turkey in the
framework of Turkey’s accession to the EU. According to the Armenian
community in the Netherlands, the two CDA candidates had, until now,
only expressed Turkey’s official view that an Armenian Genocide was
never committed.

This week, the Federation of Armenian Organizations in the Netherlands
(FAON) asked the CDA party administration about Tonca’s (35th place
on the concept-candidate list) and Elmaci’s (56) standpoint on the
genocide. The genocide has been recognized as fact by the United
Nations since 1985. In 1915, an estimated 1.5 million Armenians
perished.