HOLLAND RAISES "ARMENIAN ISSUE" WITHIN EU AND IN CONTACTS WITH TURKEY

PanARMENIAN.Net
25.10.2006 18:15 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Representatives of the Federation of Armenian
Organizations in the Netherlands (FAON) met today with Minister
of Immigration and Integration Rita Verdonk. As the FAON told the
PanARMENIAN.Net, the reason for this meeting was connected with the
commotion after the removal of three MP candidates of Turkish descent
from the candidates’ lists of CDA (Christian Democrat Party) and PvdA
(Labor Party) for publicly denying the Armenian Genocide. In response
to that Minister Verdonk underlined that in the international context
the Dutch government has raised the Armenian question repeatedly,
both in EU framework and in the bilateral contacts with Turkey and
will continue to do so. The Armenian Federation, that got the ball
rolling on the matter of the MP candidates through a letter to the
CDA, expressed concern towards the minister on the one-sided way in
which particularly Turks in the Netherlands are informed about this
episode of the history, which hampers their integration into Dutch
society. Moreover, because of current Turkish legislation, it is in
fact impossible for Turks, also those living in the Netherlands,
to give other opinions on the Armenian Genocide than the official
Turkish point of view. The FAON for this reason urged the minister
to adapt the education program on this subject. By means of objective
material, attention should be paid to this history on different levels,
as is the case in neighboring countries, in one package together
with the Holocaust and other genocides. The Institute for Holocaust
and Genocide Studies in Amsterdam can play an important role in this
matter. Minister Verdonk promised that she will transmit the request
of the FAON concerning the adaptation of the history curriculum on
this subject to her colleague of Education, Culture and Sciences. The
minister subscribes to the need of sound provision of information on
the matter.

Additionally, the FAON asked for an active attitude of the Dutch
government by acting against denial on Internet sites stirring up
hatred, and other forms of public denial, minimization, justification
or reversing of the Armenian Genocide; action is also necessary against
hackers who continuously try to destroy Dutch and Armenian internet
websites. In response to this request, minister Verdonk promised to
ask the Dutch Complaints Bureau for Discrimination on the Internet
(MDI) to be alert to any form of discrimination towards Armenians.