Spanish Foreign Minister opposes Armenian Genocide resolution

March 24, 2010 - 12:54 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - Spain's government is working to torpedo efforts by its legislature to pass a resolution recognizing the Armenian Genocide, Spanish ABC newspaper said.

According to the report, Tuesday that Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos contacted the leader of the Congress of Deputies, Jose Bono, requesting to stonewall the resolution. The government argued that Genocide recognition would provoke a negative response from Ankara.

The Armenian Genocide

The Armenian Genocide (1915-23) was the deliberate and systematic destruction of the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire during and just after World War I. It was characterized by massacres and deportations, involving forced marches under conditions designed to lead to the death of the deportees, with the total number of deaths reaching 1.5 million.

The majority of Armenian Diaspora communities were formed by the Genocide survivors.

Present-day Turkey denies the fact of the Armenian Genocide, justifying the atrocities as “deportation to secure Armenians”. Only a few Turkish intellectuals, including Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk and scholar Taner Akcam, speak openly about the necessity to recognize this crime against humanity.

The Armenian Genocide was recognized by Uruguay, Russia, France, Lithuania, Italy, 45 U.S. states, Greece, Cyprus, Lebanon, Argentina, Belgium, Austria, Wales, Switzerland, Canada, Poland, Venezuela, Chile, Bolivia, the Vatican, Luxembourg, Brazil, Germany, the Netherlands, Paraguay, Sweden, Venezuela, Slovakia, Syria, Vatican, as well as the European Parliament and the World Council of Churches.