Francophonie Parliamentary Assembly Adopts Statement on Armenian Genocide

YEREVAN — The chairpersons of the European regional sections of the Parliamentary Assembly of La Francophonie for the European Region adopted a statement on the Armenian Genocide, Armenpress news agency reports.

The statement reads as follows: “We, representatives of the parliaments of states using French as a common language, gathering at the conference of sections of the Parliamentary Assembly of La Francophonie for the European Region on 31 March 2015;

– affirming our obligations for the benefit of peace, democracy, human rights, security in the territory of La Francophonie and the universal values thereof;

– encouraging the International Organization of La Francophonie and the Parliamentary Assembly of La Francophonie to be consistent with the implementation of actions aimed at preventing crises and conflicts in accordance with the United Nations Declaration on the Principles and Norms of International Law; ¬

– highlighting the inadmissibility of lack of international recognition of the actions viewed as crime of Genocide to this day and reminding that such crime has no expiry date;

– we condemn the Genocide perpetrated against the Armenian people in the Ottoman Empire;

– we commemorate the innocent victims of the Armenian Genocide of 1915 and express solidarity with Armenia and the Armenian people in the struggle for international recognition of the Armenian Genocide and the restoration of the rights of persons subject to that genocide;

– we invite Turkey to confront its past and eventually recognize the Armenian Genocide and voice hope that that recognition will become a starting point for the reconciliation between the Armenians and Turks.”