June 15, 2002 - 19:24 AMT
CANADIAN PARLIAMENT UPPER CHAMBER PASSES RESOLUTION ON 1915 ARMENIAN GENOCIDE RECOGNITION
The Upper Chamber of the Canadian parliament -the Senate- passed the resolution on recognition of the 1915 Armenian genocide in Ottoman Turkey yesterday. The document, as reported by Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Armenia to Canada Ara Papian, consists of two parts. In the first part, the Senate recognizing the 1915 Armenian genocide in Ottoman Turkey urges the government of Canada to recognize the genocide as a historic fact and as the first genocide against the humanity in XX century as well. According to the second part of the resolution, annually April 24 must be declared the Memorial Day of the 1.5 man victims of the genocide. In order for the resolution to be valid, according to Papian, first of all, it has to be recognized by the Lower Chamber of the Canadian parliament -the House of representatives- where the debates on this issue have been for many years. «I am sure the recognition of the genocide by the Senate will assist in passing of a similar document by the House of representatives», Armenian ambassador to Canada Ara Papian told.