March 25, 2002 - 22:54 AMT
GROUND TO COUNT ON CE OFFICIAL RECOGNITION OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE IN OTTOMAN TURKEY SIGNIFICANT
There are serious preconditions for the Council of Europe to recognize officially the fact of the Armenian Genocide in Ottoman Turkey in 1915-22. Deputy head of the Armenian delegation in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Armen Rustamian stated it in the conversation with «Arminfo» agency correspondent. In his words, over 100 deputies from 30 countries signed PACE Armenian delegation's statement on the Armenian Genocide. Rustamian reported in particular the representatives of Georgia and France did not sign the statement. He noted that the French motivated their refusal by the fact that the French Parliament had already passed the law on the Armenian Genocide, confirming its position in the question. The deputy reported that the Armenian delegation had worked out the bill of the resolution on CE recognition of the Armenian Genocide and it was working to include the question in the next PACE session agenda. The deputy head of PACE Armenian delegation stressed the importance of the Armenian Genocide's recognition by the Council of Europe exactly, as Turkey was member of the organization. Rustamian reported that to pass the resolution in PACE it was necessary to gather half of the votes of the delegates present at the session, i.e. 50-60 votes. The deputy considers that it would not be very difficult to gather the necessary suffrages during the resolution vote, as over 100 deputies have signed the statement.