Italy’s Chamber of Deputies hosted a conference on the Armenian Genocide on Tuesday, April 16.
Armenia’s ambassador to Italy Viktoria Baghdasaryan delivered opening remarks thanking the lower house of parliament for supporting the recognition of the Armenian Genocide on April 10.
The ambassador said the process of the international recognition and condemnation of the Genocide is under way and that denialist policies in no way fit into the 21st century value system.
With the resolution of April 10, Baghdasaryan said, the Italian side reaffirmed its commitments under the UN Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
Representatives of Italian political, scientific, cultural circles too spoke at the event to stress the importance of the decision on recognition of the Armenian Genocide.
Armenians commemorate the mass killings on April 24 because on that date in 1915 a group of Armenian intellectuals was rounded up and assassinated in Constantinople by the Ottoman government. On April 24, Armenians worldwide will be commemorating the 104th anniversary of the Genocide which continued until 1923. Some three dozen countries, hundreds of local government bodies and international organizations have so far recognized the killings of 1.5 million Armenians as Genocide. Turkey denies to this day.