“April 24, 1915 marks the beginning of the persecutions, which ended in genocide,” parliament president Doris Bures said on Wednesday, before inviting MPs to stand and observe a minute’s silence for the victims.
The leaders of the country’s six major parties also issued a statement declaring that Austria, as a former ally of the Ottoman Empire, had a “duty to recognise and condemn these horrific events as genocide.”
They called on Turkey – which does not accept the highly sensitive term – to take responsibility for its role in the mass murders.
“It is Turkey’s duty to face the dark and painful chapter of its past and recognise the crimes committed against Armenians under the Ottoman empire as genocide,” the statement read.
