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    Categories: 2021

Turkey offers the Latvian Parliament to retract from “wrong step” of recognizing the Armenian Genocide

Public Radio of Armenia
May 6 2021


The Turkish Foreign Ministry has called on the Latvian Parliament to retract from the “wrong step” of recognizing the Armenian Genocide.

In a statement the Turkish Foreign Ministry called the “recognition of the 1915 events as genocide” a “null attempt to rewrite history with political motives.”

“We reject and strongly condemn this unfortunate and unlawful decision. Parliaments are not venues for history writing and judgment,” the Foreign Ministry stated.

The comments come after the Latvian Seima (Parliament) voted today to adopt a declaration recognizing and condemning the Armenian genocide.

“Instead of serving the agenda of some circles that try to create enmity from history, we invite the Latvian Parliament to take back this wrong step and to support the efforts to establish a practice of peaceful coexistence in the region, especially between the Turkish and Armenian peoples,” the Ministry stated.

The declaration adopted by the Latvian parliament respects the memory of all the victims of the Armenian Genocide, pays tribute to all the survivors, affirms that open discussions on historical issues are inextricably linked to the development of a healthy, mature democracy.

The Seima calls on the international community “to assess these historic events, to look to the future we want to build, without violence, intolerance, a future where human rights are respected, where everyone can be free, safe and secure.”

Emil Lazarian: “I should like to see any power of the world destroy this race, this small tribe of unimportant people, whose wars have all been fought and lost, whose structures have crumbled, literature is unread, music is unheard, and prayers are no more answered. Go ahead, destroy Armenia . See if you can do it. Send them into the desert without bread or water. Burn their homes and churches. Then see if they will not laugh, sing and pray again. For when two of them meet anywhere in the world, see if they will not create a New Armenia.” - WS