FACTOMETER
en
ру
հյ
On February 14, 2018 Knesset, the Parliament of Israel, rejected the bill introduced by Yesh Atid Party on the commemoration of the Armenian Genocide. After the bill was introduced, Deputy Foreign Minister of Israel Tzipi Hotovely, on behalf of the Foreign Ministry, proposed the MPs of the Knesset to vote against the bill.
“In 2015 the Armenian Government sat a goal to have the Armenian Genocide officially recognized by the USA, the EU, and Israel. All three states refused to recognize it”, announced Hotovely according to “Azatutyun” radio station.
However, the fact that the Deputy Foreign Minister of Israel puts the EU in the same category with the countries that have not recognized the Armenian Genocide is merely a distortion of reality. The European Union, through its legislative body — the European Parliament, recognized actions committed by the Ottoman Empire against Armenians as “Genocide” back in 2015.
With the resolution, adopted ahead of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, the EU Parliament urged Turkey to use the opportunity and recognize the genocide. With this resolution, the European Parliament also reaffirmed the resolution adopted by the parliament in 1987, in which the atrocities against Armenians from 1915-1917 was again qualified as genocide.
Besides the EU Legislative Body, 14 out of 28 EU member states (Austria, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Poland, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Cyprus, Greece, the Netherlands, Sweden, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and France) have also recognized the Armenian Genocide through their own legislative bodies.
It is worth mentioning that it was the first time the bill on the Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day was discussed in the Knesset. After her appeal to vote against the bill, Deputy Foreign Minister Hotovely added that “it is very important to recognize the tragedy of the Armenian people”, however Israel cannot change its foreign policy “due to major diplomatic issues”.
