Democrat Youth Community of Europe adopts statement condemning the Armenian Genocide

The Democrat Youth Community of Europe (DEMYC) Executive Bureau has adopted an official statement condemning the Armenian Genocide. DEMYC Unites youth wings of political parties from about 50 countries. The statement reads:

·         Having in mind Pan-Armenian Declaration on the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide;

·         Reaffirming the principles on Human rights and standing on European value;

·         Condemning the genocidal acts against the Armenian people, planned and continuously perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire and various regimes of Turkey in 1894-1923, dispossession of the homeland, the massacres and ethnic cleansing aimed at the extermination of the Armenian population, the destruction of the Armenian heritage, as well as the denial of the Genocide, all attempts to avoid responsibility, to consign to oblivion the committed crimes and their consequences or to justify them, as a continuation of this crime and encouragement to commit new genocides;

DEMYC (Democrat Youth Community of Europe) Board states the following:

·         We condemn the genocidal acts against the Armenian people, planned and continuously perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire and various regimes of Turkey in 1894-1923, dispossession of the homeland, the massacres and ethnic cleansing aimed at the extermination of the Armenian population, the destruction of the Armenian heritage, as well as the denial of the Genocide;

·         We commemorate one-and-a-half million innocent victims of the Armenian Genocide and bow in gratitude before those martyred and surviving heroes who struggled for their lives and human dignity. Moreover, we recognize, that the Genocide resulted in the death and dispossession not only of Armenian people but also extended to the Pontic Greeks and Assyrians peoples, and we commemorate them as well;

·         We join and strongly support the commitment of Armenia and the Armenian people to continue the international struggle for the prevention of genocides, the restoration of the rights of people subjected to genocide and the establishment of historical justice;

·         We encourage Turkey to face history and finally recognize the ever-present reality of the Armenian Genocide and its attendant dispossession, including but not limited to ensuring a right of return of the Armenian people to, and a secure reconnection with, their national hearth―all flowing from the fundamental imperative of achieving Reconciliation through the Truth;

·         We call upon the Government of Turkey to respect and realize fully the legal obligations which it has undertaken including those provisions which relate to the protection of cultural heritage and, in particular, to conduct in good faith an integrated inventory of Armenian and other cultural heritage destroyed or ruined during the past century.