Many States in The USA Have Long Recognized "Genocide"

Although there is diplomatic tension between Turkey and the USA
because of the passing of the "genocide" resolution in a committee of
the House of Representatives, most US states already recognise a
"genocide".

Býa news centre

16-10-2007

Erhan Üstündag

The recent furore over the passing of a resolution by the Foreign
Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives, accepting the
events of 1915 as a "genocide" with 27 votes for and 21 votes against,
has made people forget that many countries, including parts of the
USA, have already defined events as such.

In the USA, forty of the fifty states accept the events of 1915-1917
as a "genocide". Although Turkey is now working towards the resolution
not being passed by the complete House of Representatives, House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi is in firm support of the resolution.

In some countries there have been symbolic decrees to remember and
condemn the terrible experiences of Armenians at the time. ýn other
countries, the denial of a genocide may be pursued legally. For
instance, Argentina has passed many decisions, such as the one to
acknowledge a "genocide", to demand that Turkey and the United Nations
do so, too, and to include the events in school curricula.

18 parliamentary resolutions

Particularly since 2005, the parliaments of several countries have
decided to officially recognise the events of 1915 as a "genocide".

There are eighteen countries who have passed such decisions in parliament:

Uruguay: 1965, 2004, 2005; Southern Cyprus: 1982; Argentina: 1993,
2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007; Russia: 1995, 2005; Canada: 1996, 2000,
2004; Greece: 1996; the Lebanon: 1997, 2000; Belgium: 1998; Italy:
2000; the Vatikan: 2000; France: 2001; Switzerland: 2003; Slovakia:
2004; Holland: 2004; Poland: 2005; Venezuela: 2005; Lithuania: 2005;
Chile: 2007.

Other recognition

Sweden, Austria and Armenia have recognised the 1915 events as a
"genocide" without a parliamentary decision, and the German parliament
passed a decision in 2005 to "remember the Armenians who were exposed
to violence and forced emigration and killed before the First World
War". While the Germans do not use the term "genocide", the parliament
has said that "some independent historians, institutions and
parliaments have described these events as genocide."

Apart from the Federal government, Canada’s states of Quebec and
Ontario also recognise a "genocide". Australia’s state parliament of
New South Wales recognised and condemned the "genocide" in 1997.

In Brazil, the states of Ceara and Sao Paolo have accepted a "genocide.

In 2007, the Basque parliament passed a similar resolution.

According to the law passed in France in 2006, a denial of the
"Armenian genocide" is punished with imprisonment and fines.

A draft brought to the Bulgarian parliament in 2006 was voted against
because of the reactions of Turkish MPs. (EÜ/NZ/AG)

* This news item has used information from Wikipedia, Agos, BBC, the
Guardian, the American Armenian National Committee and the Los Angeles
Times.

Source: 318/many-states-in-the-usa-have-long-acknowledged- genocide