Yerevan welcomes Greek parliament’s bill criminalizing Genocide denial

PanARMENIAN.Net - Yerevan welcomes the Greek parliament’s bill criminalizing the denial of the Armenian Genocide, Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian stressed in his statement.

“Armenia welcomes the adoption of the Bill criminalizing the denial of genocides, recognized by the National Assembly of Greece.

The adoption of the Bill once again demonstrates Greece’s adherence to the universal human values; it is an important step towards prevention of genocides and other heinous crimes against humanity,” a statement posted at the ministry’s website says.

Deputy speaker of Armenian parliament and the head of the Armenia-Greece parliamentary friendship group Eduard Sharmazanov had a telephone conversation on Wednesday, September 10 with the head of the Greece-Armenian parliamentary friendship group Apostolos Kaklamanis, Tert.am said.

Sharmazanov thanked his Greek counterpart for his vote in favor of the adoption. He conveyed his greetings to all the other Greek MPs that voted for the bill.

Sharmazanov noted that Armenia highly appreciates the Greek MPs’ step, as a service rendered not only to the people of Armenia and Greece, but also to the humanity and civilization. Struggle against the policy of denial of the Armenian Genocide prevents new genocides, he said.

Kaklamanis thanked Sharmazanov and stated his willingness to continue contributing to the consolidation of Armenian-Greek relations.

However, as the senior official of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation/ Dashnaktsutyun Kiro Manoyan warned, reminding the case of Dogu Perincek, the anti-racism bill passed by the Greek parliament may also be overturned by the European Court of Human Rights, with attempted violation of the right for the freedom of expression cited.