HET PAROOL: NEVER BEFORE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE GOT AS MUCH ATTENTION IN DUTCH POLITICS

PanARMENIAN.Net
10.10.2006 18:22 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Never before the Armenian Genocide got as much
attention in the Dutch politics as in the previous weeks. A small
lobby with many branches in Binnenhof had unexpected success, writes
the Het Parool, a Dutch daily newspaper published in Hague.

Addie Schulte, the author of the article titled Armenian Lobby Is
Strong, thinks that "the Netherlands has spared herself a big deal
of misery."

It started a month ago with a letter to CDA (Christian Democrat Party)
and a press release. The Federation of Armenian Organizations in
the Netherlands (FAON) and its 24 April Committee asked if candidate
Member of Parliament Ayhan Tonca distances himself from his earlier
denial of the Armenian Genocide. "Tonca were a straight denier", says
Inge Drost, spokeswoman of the Armenian Organizations. The Armenian
lobby did not get a direct answer to the letter to CDA. But after the
attention paid by media, the matter gained momentum, which seems still
to continue," Drost said. In fact it concerns a historical question,
and the struggle for its recognition is not political, says Mrs. Drost.

"But the policy of denial is guided by Ankara".

"Turkey is doing a rearguard action: almost all historians recognize
the Genocide. But we cannot just pass over, because Turkey wants
to become a member of the European Union. That is unthinkable
without recognition of the Genocide," Drost underscored, FAON told
PanARMENIAN.Net.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress