Armenpress News Agency , Armenia
Tuesday
Romanian expert proposes Romania to officially recognize the Armenian Genocide
YEREVAN, JULY 11, ARMENPRESS. Filip Clem, expert of the Parliament of
Romania, submitted a proposal to officially recognize the Armenian
Genocide by Romania.
Armenpress presents thetext of the proposal:
Romania can recognize the 1915-1923 Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire
In the current situation Romania will not lost and endanger anything
if it officially recognizes the tragic events of 1915-1923 in the
Ottoman Empire and the republic following it as the “Armenian
Genocide”.
In 2018 on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Romanian
state, Romania can do this gesture of diplomatic courtesy and
historical solidarity.
The ongoing developments in the Middle East greatly weakened Turkey’s
reputation in the region. Today Turkey is a major political and
military power, but it no more enjoys the same democracy until July
2016. The US and NATO have cautious attitude towards Ankara and are
afraid of expansion of political Islam within the state circle.
Moreover, Russian-Iran regional alliance also has similar cautious
attitude. Turkey will not voluntarily withdraw from NATO.
There is mutual disappointment in Ankara’s relations with the EU.
Turkey wants to act as a global power, although in medium size,
independent, sovereign, as a possible candidate for a permanent member
of the UN Security Council.
Romania has avoided to publicly acknowledge the Armenian Genocide
being afraid of angering Turkey. Now the context has changed. Many EU
and NATO member states have officially acknowledged this historical
tragedy or demonstrated favorable attitude for its recognition.
Romani’s relations with Turkey have frozen to some extent: a mutual
caution has emerged.
We made a lot of efforts for official recognition of the Holocaust in
the WWII which resulted in paroxysm within the public. We have
established the Elie Wiesel Institute through the public funds. During
each official visit of the Romanian President or the Prime Minister to
the US the visit to Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC is
mandatory. We commemorate the memory of the Holocaust victims several
times a year via conferences, seminars, laying wreaths and various
events. We got used to this…
We want to reach the international recognition of the Romanian
genocide committed by the Soviet authorities and the army during the
WWII and after that.
How should the official recognition of the Armenian Genocide be done by Romania?
It’s not difficult, but first of all it should be based on political
will and consensus. There is an international practice which is not so
complicated in this sense.
The Parliament adopts a resolution as a result of the voting of
plenary session of the two chambers which is being released in the
Office Journal. In the extreme case, only the stance of one chamber of
the Parliament will be enough, however, we would consider this as a
partial gesture. The text of such resolution is not a standard at
international level. It must be officially recognized that the
respective events are called as “genocide” in accordance with the
“Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide”
adopted by the UN General Assembly on December 9, 1948. It may also
have a reference to the fact that other national parliaments and/or
international organizations have already recognized it.
Likewise, the President of Romania in his some official speeches must
talk about these events calling them as “genocide” and must sent a
letter of condolences to Armenia and the Armenian people by strictly
condemning these atrocities and etc.
The Government and the Parliament can decide a day of the calendar
year (perhaps April 24) to commemorate this tragedy in our country. A
number of scientific conferences are being organized with
participation of the Romanian Academy, as well as several
representatives of Romanian Orthodox and Armenian Churches, central or
local authorities, and of course, representatives of the Armenian
community of Romania.
In terms of foreign policy the Ministry of Foreign Affairs can inform
the Romanian diplomats in foreign countries that the Romanian state
made a decision to officially recognize the Armenian Genocide.
Therefore, the Ambassadors of Armenia and Turkey in Bucharest, maybe
the entire diplomatic corps, will be officially informed about it.
It depends on what kind of volume and emphasis we want to put on this
fact. I think for our country it would be enough to do what is
necessary: institutional steps for official recognition, plus some
domestic cultural events, no more than this. It would not be useful
for us to surprise someone with this issue. We also do not need to
deliberately insult Turkey. It’s a moral issue, a matter of principle,
a historical solidarity, as well as a natural gesture of political
opportunity at the moment. If Ankara threatens us to cut diplomatic
ties, it is first of all their problem, and it will not be a
beneficial step for them.
In the public education teachers at world history class can talk about
this episode as an actual genocide, ethnic cleansing. Unfortunately,
it’s not the only case in history.
There is an article in Wikipedia on official recognition at
international level according to which till now 29 states (including
also the US) and several international structures have officially or
indirectly acknowledged this genocide.
The current regional context enables to treat Turkey calmly which will
be mutually beneficial. Only Armenia’s geopolitical closeness to the
Russian Federation remains. This is the only inconvenience for Romania
which is firmly attached to NATO, however this should not be a
hindering factor in this regard. Eventually, our states must recognize
what has been already recognized by other Euro-Atlantic states.
There are many articles published about this material. Recently there
are more and more favorable opinions among our public over the
recognition of the genocide. The efforts of the Armenian community
resulted in organizing a number of conferences and cultural events.
