news.am, Armenia
March 20 2010
Armenian Genocide motion to be considered in Bulgarian Parliament next week
20:05 / 03/19/2010 The draft resolution on Armenian Genocide was
introduced into Bulgarian Parliament. NEWS.am posts unofficial
translation of the motion to be considered next week.
The genocide against Armenian people is one of the most portentous
crimes against humanity in the modern history. In order to realize the
full depth of the massacres perpetrated against Armenian people by
Turkish authorities in the beginning of the 20th century, it should be
taken into account that in essence, it is an ill-veiled, but
goal-directed policy aiming at the extermination of Armenian ethnos
within the bounds of its historical residence-from Ararat to Anatolia.
Turkish Government intended to place numerous Muslim refugees from
Balkans there.
In this respect, the seemingly unrelated acts of violence against
Armenians from 1915-1917 were a carefully thought up plan by Turkish
authorities meant to displacement of Armenians with escort convoy, the
committed slaughter and torture both by regular troops and desperados,
including pogroms, raping, robbery, dispossession of land and property
of the peaceful Armenian population. This is a system of physical,
economic and moral destruction of Armenian ethnos killing over one and
a half million Armenians within several months.
Based on the mentioned facts, National Assembly of the Republic of
Bulgaria, admitting the cogency of the facts proving the committed
extermination of 1.500.000 Armenians by Ottoman Empire authorities in
1915-17, considering the violence against Armenians during the World
War I is recognized by the European Parliament and a number of EU
members-Belgium, Netherlands, Greece, Italy, Lithuania, Poland,
Slovakia, France as genocide, condemning the genocide of the Armenian
population,
Declares:
1. Expresses its dissent with official position of Turkish Government,
directed towards the negation of the purposive violence against
Armenian nation committed in 1915-1917.
2. Urges the Republic of Turkey to review its stance on the historic
reality during the World War I
3. Term the forcible displacement-the extermination of the Armenian
people under Ottoman Empire as Genocide
4. Announces the necessity of mandatory unbiased reporting of the
historical events indicated in the documents, publications, public
addresses of all state institutions, political organizations, mass
media of the Republic of Bulgaria.
5. Admits that protection of monuments of Bulgarian and Armenian
architectural-religious heritage on the territory of Turkey should be
considered as part of a broader policy of preservation of cultural
heritage of European civilization.
6. Demands that in the course of the talks on Turkey’s membership to
EU, the stance of Bulgarian Government be conditioned by the
recognition of Armenian Genocide by Turkey.
L.A.