Armenian National Committee of America
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PRESS RELEASE
June 7, 2007
Contact: Elizabeth S. Chouldjian
Tel: (202) 775-1918

CHILEAN SENATE UNANIMOUSLY RECOGNIZES ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

WASHINGTON, DC – The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA)
today welcomed the Chilean Senate’s unanimous passage of
legislation recognizing the Armenian Genocide and urging its
government to support a key 1985 United Nations Subcommission
report properly describing this crime against humanity as a clear
instance of genocide.

"We join with Armenians in Chile, throughout South America, and
around the world in welcoming Chilean Senate’s recognition of the
Armenian Genocide," said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian.
"The Chilean government’s principled stand further isolates Turkey
and shines the spotlight of international public opinion on the
remaining countries – the United States sadly among them – that
insist upon remaining complicit in Ankara’s shameful campaign of
genocide denial."

The resolution was introduced by Senator Ricardo Nunez (Socialist)
and cosponsored by Senators Guido Girardi, Jaime Naranjo, Jaime
Gazmuri, Mariano Ruiz-Esquide, Alejandro Navarro, Camilo Escalona,
Roberto Munoz Barra, Juan Pablo Letelier and Antonio Horvath.
Citing the United Nations Subcommission on Prevention of
Discrimination and Protection of Minorities report, the Senate
noted the "ethical and moral imperative that Chile makes a
resolution along the lines of that from 1985 which recognizes that
the Ottoman Empire committed a brutal genocide in Armenia against a
defenseless people that now cry out for moral reparations from part
of the international community and especially Turkey."

The Chilean Senate’s recognition was spearheaded by that country’s
small but vibrant Armenian community, working closely with the
Armenian National Committee of South America (ANC-SA). ANC of
Argentina Chairman and longtime South American activist Hagop
Tabakian noted that: "passage of the Armenian Genocide resolution
in Chile is an important step in our progress toward our goal of
all of South America taking a principled stand on this key human
rights issue."

Chile joins its South American neighbors Uruguay, Argentina, and
Venezuela in properly characterizing Turkey’s systematic campaign
to annihilate its Armenian population between 1915-1923 as
genocide. Other countries worldwide that have also recognized the
Armenian Genocide include Bulgaria, Belgium, Canada, Cyprus,
France, Greece, Italy, Lebanon, Lithuania, Poland, Russia,
Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands, and The Vatican, as
well as the European Parliament and various other European bodies.

The complete text of the resolution is provided below.

#####

Text of the Chile Senate Resolution
Recognizing the Armenian Genocide
(translated from Spanish)

Adopted June 5, 2007

Honorable Senate

Considering:

1. that 24th of April, 1915, in Constantinople, then the capital of
the Ottoman Turkish Empire, after the unjust arrest and later the
disappearance of the entire leading class of the Armenian
community, marks the beginning of a policy of systematic
extermination of the Armenian population on the part of the
imperial authorities;

2. that the brutal genocide, enacted between 1915 and 1923,
resulted in the deaths of over 1.5 million Armenian citizens that
lived in the lands of their ancestors for thousands of years;

3. that this reproachable action constituted the first ethnic
cleansing of the 20th century and more than that or even any
judgment or interpretation of it, signifies a flagrant violation of
the human rights of that nation;

4. that in spite of the intent to erase the collective memory of
mankind and of the loss of sensibility of the great powers to end
those acts, the Armenians and their several organizations around
the world have found that part of the international community may
recognize the genocide in which they were victim to be doomed;

5. that such a recognition was granted in 1985 by the Subcommission
on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities of the
UN that clarified the Armenian case as a genocide;

6. that nations such as Uruguay, Argentina, Greece, Bulgaria,
Belgium, Russia, Italy, Lebanon, Sweden, Switzerland, Holland,
Venezuela, Lithuania, Canada and France have made their own
resolutions like those also of the European Parliament;

7. that our nation has yet to be made to regret to permanently
invoke the supremacy of Human Rights in international relations
above whatever agreement or compromise regardless of how important
it may be;

8. that consequently it constitutes an ethical and moral imperative
that Chile makes a resolution along the lines of that from 1985
which recognizes that the Ottoman Empire committed a brutal
genocide in Armenia against a defenseless people that now cry out
for moral reparations from part of the international community and
especially Turkey.

By virtue of these outlined issues, the Honorable Senate of the
Republic decides

1. To support the Armenian nation in condemning the genocide of its
people and,

2. To call on the government of Chile to adhere to the 1985 United
Nations decision.