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CYPRUS AMENDS LAW TO CRIMINALIZE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE DENIAL
Associated Press International
April 2, 2015 Thursday 1:37 PM GMT
NICOSIA, Cyprus
NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) - Cyprus' parliament has legislated to criminalize
the denial of the massacre of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians by
Ottoman Turks a century ago.
Parliamentary speaker Yiannakis Omirou says that through a unanimous
vote, lawmakers can make denial of any historically proven massacre
a crime.
Omirou said after a meeting with his Armenian counterpart Thursday
that Cyprus was the first country to raise the issue of recognizing
the Armenian genocide at the U.N. General Assembly in 1965. The event
is widely viewed by scholars as the first genocide of the 20th century.
Turkey however, denies that the deaths constituted genocide, saying
the toll has been inflated, and that those killed were victims of
civil war and unrest.
Armenians mark the centenary of the killings on April 24.
Associated Press International
April 2, 2015 Thursday 1:37 PM GMT
NICOSIA, Cyprus
NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) - Cyprus' parliament has legislated to criminalize
the denial of the massacre of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians by
Ottoman Turks a century ago.
Parliamentary speaker Yiannakis Omirou says that through a unanimous
vote, lawmakers can make denial of any historically proven massacre
a crime.
Omirou said after a meeting with his Armenian counterpart Thursday
that Cyprus was the first country to raise the issue of recognizing
the Armenian genocide at the U.N. General Assembly in 1965. The event
is widely viewed by scholars as the first genocide of the 20th century.
Turkey however, denies that the deaths constituted genocide, saying
the toll has been inflated, and that those killed were victims of
civil war and unrest.
Armenians mark the centenary of the killings on April 24.