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ANCA Welcomes Chilean Senate Recognition of Armenian Genocide

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  • ANCA Welcomes Chilean Senate Recognition of Armenian Genocide

    Armenian National Committee of America
    1711 N Street NW
    Washington, DC 20036
    Tel. (202) 775-1918
    Fax. (202) 775-5648
    Email [email protected]
    Internet www.anca.org

    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.
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