Bills introduced in Israel and the United Kingdom may recognize the Armenian genocide that exterminated about 3.75 million Christians in the 19th and 20th centuries, according to reports from the relief organization Barnabas Fund.
A bill to recognize the genocide was introduced Nov. 9 in Israel’s Knesset (parliament). Barnabas Fund notes that the measure seeks to establish an annual memorial day on April 24, which several countries observe as Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day.
Also on Nov. 9, a bill to establish an annual remembrance and incorporate instruction on the genocide into the national curriculum received its first reading in the United Kingdom House of Commons, states Barnabas Fund.
The United States and 30 other countries have recognized the genocide, the reports say.
In presenting the UK bill, Tim Loughton MP, chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Armenia, said the threat to Armenians continues. “The recent invasion of Nagorno-Karabakh by Azerbaijan, forcing 90,000 Armenians to flee their homes due to the threat of ethnic cleansing, serves as a warning that Armenians remain vulnerable today,” he said, according to the report.
Between 1893 and 1923, about 1.5 million Armenians were killed in the Ottoman Empire in an attempt to annihilate Christian minorities, the reports say. An additional 2.25 million Assyrian, Greek and Syriac Christians were killed in the territories between 1914 and 1923.