ARF Youth Unions will rally to urge EU member states to recognize the Armenian Genocide
On Thursday, March 26, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation Youth and Student organizations of Armenia will rally in front of the Office of the EU Delegation to Armenia. On the same day the ARF Youth Unions will rally in front of EU Offices in different countries of the world and will hand over petitions. The initiative aims to unite the young people in Armenia and Diaspora and raise the voice of Armenians worldwide. The petition reads:
“April 24, 2015 marks the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. As we approach the centennial, we, the descendants of the survivors of the Armenian Genocide, stand ever resolute for the international recognition of this crime against humanity and the reinstatement of historical justice for the one and a half million innocent victims it claimed.
The Republic of Turkey continues to profit from the spoils of the crime committed by its predecessor regimes. Furthermore, Turkey continues the genocidal policies by denying the reality of the Genocide and by waging an international campaign of distortion of historical truth. Ankara’s record of hiring political lobbyists and its tactics of political blackmail have long been exposed.
As Armenian youth, we welcome and support the European Parliament’s recent call on the European Union member states to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide.
We regard this position as a reiteration of the European Parliament’s historic 1987 decision, which recognized the Armenian Genocide and posited that “the Armenian question and the question of minorities in Turkey must be resituated within the framework of relations between Turkey and the Community.”
We call upon the leadership of the European Union, namely, the European Council, the Council of the European Union and the European Commission to uphold the moral standard set by the European Parliament by recognizing and condemning the Armenian Genocide.
We urge the leadership of the European Union to encourage its member states to recognize the Armenian Genocide and to criminalize its denial.
We demand that the European Union pressures Turkey to unequivocally acknowledge the Armenian Genocide and initiate steps that would conclude by reparations for all material and non-material losses and by restoration of the historical rights of the Armenian nation.
We regard that the recognition of the Armenian Genocide by Turkey and the restitution of justice and restoration of historical rights of the Armenian nation must be set as preconditions for the membership of Turkey to the European Union.
On the eve of the Armenian Genocide centennial, we, the descendants of the survivors of the Armenian Genocide, declare, that we remain ever resolute for the just cause of the Armenian Genocide victims and the timeless rights of the Armenian Nation.”
