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Akın Birdal: Turkish Intellectuals Who Have Recognized The Armenian Genocide

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Turkish intelec 91By: Hambersom Aghbashian,

Akın Birdal (born 2 January 1948, Niğde Province, Turkey) is a Turkish human rights activist and politician. He was a member of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey for the Democratic Society Party (DTP) (2007 to 2009) and the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) from 2009 to 2011. He is an honorary President of the Human Rights Association of Turkey (IHD), having been its Chair from 1992 to 1998. He has published a number of essays and short stories. Birdal is an agricultural engineer by training, graduated from Ankara University Faculty of Agriculture, Soil Science Department. He went on to do a master’s degree in business at the University of Gazi. His academic career, begun in 1979, was cut short by the 1980 Turkish coup d’état. Birdal co-founded the Human Rights Association of Turkey in 1986, and became its Secretary-General. He was elected its Chairman in 1992. On 12 May 1998, Birdal barely survived an assassination attempt. The Turkish Revenge Brigade claimed responsibility. In 1999 he was sentenced to 20 months’ imprisonment under Article 312 (of which he served 14 months). He was adopted as a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International. In 2002 Birdal was one of the founders of the Socialist Democratic Party, becoming its chairman, but stepped down after becoming Vice President of the International Federation for Human Rights. In July 2007, he stood as an independent candidate and entered the Turkish Parliament, representing Diyarbakır. He was awarded Jaime Brunet Prize for Human Rights (1999).

On February 9, 2001, “www.wnd.com” posted its article “Turkey lashes out over genocide charges” where it was mentioned ” The human rights activist, Akin Birdal, faces a possible sentence of six years in prison for the offense of ”openly insulting and vilifying Turkishness” during a panel discussion in Germany last year. According to the Anatolia news agency, the Turkish prosecutor quoted Birdal as having said: ”Everybody knows what was done to the Armenians. Turkey must apologize for what it did to the minorities.”(1)
In “A Handy List of  Turkish Turncoats”, “www.tallarmeniantale.com”,  ‘Akin Birdal, Writer, Honorary President of the Human Rights Association’ is listed with many other Turkish intellectuals as turncoats for supporting the Armenian cause, recognizing the Armenian Genocide and criticizing the Turkish government and the officials as they never seem to comprehend the importance of self-criticism concerning their past, and for Turkey’s denial of the Armenian Genocide.(2)

According to a press release on March 2001, “The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA)  called on the U.S. State Department to protest the prosecution of a Turkish human rights activist on charges that he had called on Turkey to apologize for the Armenian Genocide. The activist, Akin Birdal, is the former president of the Istanbul-based Human Rights Association and Turkey’s leading human rights advocate,” it mentioned, and added “The Armenian Genocide-related charges currently against him carry a maximum prison sentence of six years. According to a March 1st Associated Press (AP) article, Birdal’s lawyer Sedat Aslantas said earlier that his client had made remarks about Turkey’s treatment of minorities in general and not particularly the Armenians.” The AP story also noted that “dozens of writers, journalists and intellectuals have been jailed under Turkish laws which limit freedom of speech.”(3)

In her article “They say ‘incident’. To me it’s genocide”, (The Guardian- February 27, 2005), Nouritza Matossian mentioned the following concerning Orhan Pamuk’s trial for his one sentence in an interview with the Swiss newspaper Tagesanzeiger as he mentioned that ‘Thirty thousand Kurds and a million Armenians were killed in Turkey.’ Matossian wrote  “Akin Birdal, vice-president of the International Federation of Human Rights Leagues, emphasizes: ‘No matter we have come to the 90th year of “incidents” Orhan Pamuk talked about, these will of course be discussed on domestic and international platforms. The aggressions carried out against Pamuk are those which have been carried out against thoughts. Pamuk is not alone.’ Pamuk has cut the Gordian knot. He has become the hero of every right-thinking person in Turkey and every Armenian worldwide.(4)

Edmond Y. Azadian wrote an article on March 20, 2014 in The Armenian Mirror- Spectator under the title “From Talat to Erdogan- The Same Old Racist Genocidal Policy,” the follwing are some abstracts: ” On March 16, Erdogan gave an interview to the BBC threatening to expel “100,000 illegal migrant workers from Armenia. We close our eyes to their situation, but what am I going to do tomorrow? If necessary, I will tell them, ‘get out and go to your country.’ They are not my citizens; I am not obliged to keep them in our country.” He added “ Akin Birdal, representing the Peace and Democracy party in the parilament, has said that this blackmail raises the question whether we are returning to 1915.”(5)

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1- http://www.wnd.com/2001/02/8122/

2- http://www.tallarmeniantale.com/TURKISH-SCHOLARS.htm

3- http://www.atour.com/~aahgn/news/20010305c.html

4- http://www.theguardian.com/world/2005/feb/27/turkey.books

5- http://www.mirrorspectator.com/2010/03/24/from-talat-to-erdogan

European Democrat Students association adopts resolution condemning Armenian Genocide

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f566c1fbfcd03e_566c1fbfcd07b.thumbEuropean Democrat Students (EDS) pan-European student and youth political association has adopted a resolution that condemns the 1915 Armenian Genocide.

The resolution was put on the agenda of the meeting of EDS Council in Yerevan at the suggestion of the Youth Organization of the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA). Youth Organization of RPA became a member organization of EDS this year, according to the press service of RPA’s Youth Organization.

The resolution condemns genocides committed against Armenians, Assyrians, and Pontic Greeks in the Ottoman Empire in the late 19th century and the early 20th century. The documents calls on Turkey to come to terms with its past and recognize the Armenian Genocide.  It is noted that the denial of the Armenian Genocide by Turkey’s authorities leads to new genocides in the world.

‘During the meeting of our Council, today many discussions took place and a resolution condemning the Armenian Genocide was adopted by a majority of votes. Wu urge all EU countries to recognize and condemn the Armenian Genocide. I should say that EPP also has an official condemnatory stance on this issue. The Armenian Genocide was recognized by parliaments of many countries, and we wanted EDS also to have its official position on the matter,” EDS Chairman Giorgos Chatzigeorgiou said.

Italy’s L’Aquila City Council recognizes Armenian Genocide

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201679Italy’s L’Aquila City Council has recognized the Armenian Genocide on November 26.

In a letter to Armenia’s Embassy to Italy and the Union of Armenians of the country, L’Aquila City Mayor Massimo Cialente stated that the Council recognizes the Genocide and expresses solidarity with the Armenian people in support of historical truth and protection of human rights.

City Councils of Ravenna and Ivrea and the regional council of Marche recognized the Armenian Genocide on October 22, October 12 and October 6, respectively. Besides, the parliament of Italy’s Tuscany adopted a resolution acknowledging the Genocide on March 25, 2015.

Over 30 Italian cities have recognized the Armenian Genocide perpetrated at the hands of the Ottoman government in 1915.

Italy recognized the Genocide in 2000: the denial is criminalized, stipulating for 3-year imprisonment and a fine.

Parliament of Spain’s Aragon adopts Armenian Genocide resolution

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argon-adoptsAs a result of several study visits organized by the European Friends of Armenia (EuFoA) NGO to Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh with several legislators, the Parliament of Aragon on Wednesday adopted a declaration recognizing and condemning the Armenian Genocide.

The text, which was tabled by MP Gregorio Briz Sánchez, pays homage to the over 1.5 million Armenian victims killed by the Ottoman Empire and asks all Turkish institutions, including the government, to acknowledge this historical fact.

Given that 2015 marks the centenary of the Armenian Genocide, many international organizations, such as the European Parliament, and political bodies have adopted motions commemorating it. Pope Francis also added his voice and recognized the Armenian Genocide in a declaration made in April. These events were all referred to in the said document adopted by Aragonese parliament.

In addition, the text pays tribute to the victims of the Armenian Genocide in a spirit of solidarity and European justice. It underlines that the European Union should make genocide prevention and punishment of crimes against humanity a top priority.

The resolution calls also on the government of Turkey to use the commemoration of the centenary of the Armenian Genocide as an opportunity to recognize it, open its archives and choose the path of reconciliation between the Turkish and Armenian people. It also highlights that a growing number of Turkish intellectuals, politicians and members of civil society have acknowledged the Armenian Genocide and encourages Turkish institutions to do the same.

“It is very encouraging to see that this year, not only the European, but also member states and regional parliaments have adopted resolutions recognizing the Armenian Genocide,” commented Eduardo Lorenzo Ochoa, the EuFoA Director. “I believe that this sends a strong message to Turkey, that Europe is waiting for them to recognize their history. Today it also sends a clear signal to the Armenians: Aragonese people are standing with them in recognizing the first genocide of the 21st century.”

The text furthermore calls on Spain to help ensuring Turkey keeps to it promise to protect and preserve the Armenian cultural heritage on its territory and to have a more active role in facilitating reconciliation between Armenia and Turkey. European history provides ample examples of reconciliation between nations which can serve as a model.

Aragon is an autonomous community in the northeast of Spain, bordering France. It has a population of 1.2 million and a total area of 47,719 square kilometers (slightly bigger than Estonia). It is the fifth region in Spain that has recognized the Armenian Genocide, after the Basque Country, Catalonia, the Balearic Islands, and Navarre.

Source: news.am

Alzira becomes the 12th city in Spain to recognize the Armenian Genocide

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arton119239-480x278The city of Alzira, in the Province of Valencia, joined 11 Spanish cities by officially recognizing the Armenian Genocide, reported the Armenian Ararat Association of Valencia.

On November 25 the Council of the city of Alzira, composed of five political parties voted unanimously in favor of a resolution tabled by the Armenian Association Ararat, describing the first butcher of the 20th century as genocide and condemns denial policy of Turkey.

Alzira is a city of 45,000 inhabitants in the east of Spain, capital of the comarca of Ribera Alta, in the province of Valencia.

Saturday, November 28, 2015,
Jean Eckian © armenews.com

Altan Tan Turkish Intellectuals Who Have Recognized The Armenian Genocide

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Turkish Intelec 89By Hambersom Aghbashian

Altan Tan ( born on September 11, 1958 in  Batman – Turkey ) is a Kurdish politician, writer , and a member of the Turkish parliament. His father Bedii Tan was killed under torture in Diyarbakir Prison following the Military Coup of 12 September 1980 in Turkey. Altan Tan is a construction engineer; he completed his primary and secondary education in Diyarbakir in 1976, then graduated from Ankara State Engineering and Architecture Academy- Department of Civil Engineering in 1981. Following his military service (1982-1984),  he became Deputy Mayor of Ankara Kecioren Municipality (1984-1985). He served at the Central Executive Committee of the Welfare Party (Refah Partisi) (1990-1991). In 1993, he was one of the founding members of the Great Change Party (Buyuk Degisim Partisi – BDP), which was founded under the leadership of Aydin Menderes. Tan was elected to BDP’s General Executive Board. However, he took a break from politics for sometime and  returned to it in 2000. later he was a member of  Peace and Democracy Party , and served at the Party’s Parliamentary Council (2000-2002). Altan Tan  was elected as a member to the  Turkish parliament representing Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party, and was a member of the recent Parliamentary Constitution Committee and  a member of Inter-parliamentary Turkey-Angola Friendship Group. He wrote articles for New Ground, Democracy and Contract magazine, the New Agenda, New Dawn, Time, Ozgur Politika, and others. Altan Tan has published 3 books. In addition to Turkish, Tan speaks with moderately good level of Arabic, Kurdish and English. He is married and has six children. (1)

According to www.armeniapedia.org, Oct 17 2011, in an interview with Aghos newspaper Altan Tan restated his words recently said in the international scientific conference in Artuklu University in Turkey, and insisted that “Kurds and Muslims also played a role in the 1915 Genocide implemented against Armenians. “Not all Kurds though took a sword. However, Kurds do have their serious share of blame in the Genocide,” Altan also criticized  the attitude of the Muslims in rejecting the Genocide, and  had earlier stated that as a political figure he calls the 1915 events Genocide implemented against Armenians. No matter what the conditions were, those people were killed. The proof is the territory and the demographic situation. At that time 13 million people lived in Turkey and Armenians made 10% of the population. Currently the population is 75 million, while Armenians are only 40,000, MP had stated. (2)

On May 22, 2015,  Turkey’s pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) MP Altan Tan reiterated in his speech that Genocide was committed against the Armenian people in 1915, News.am reports citing Turkish Arca news agency. The MP dwelled upon the pre-electoral developments in Turkey, condemning the continuous attacks against the Kurdish party, while addressing a press conference in Bursa. Responding to a journalist’s question on the massacres of the Circassians in 1864, Tan said: “Great tragedies took place in this region. On April 24, for instance, we speak of the Armenian Genocide. It will never be forgotten, and neither will the massacres in the Balkans and Caucasus.” (3)

“Hundreds Commemorate Genocide in Diyarbakir”, this was Gulisor Akkum article on April26, 2014 in  The Armenian Weekly where she wrote ” Hundreds attended the commemoration of the Armenian and Assyrian genocides here in Diyarbakir on April 24, including Diyarbakir Metropolitan Municipality co-mayor Fırat Anlı and former mayor of Sur Municipality Abdullah Demirbaş. The commemoration was jointly organized by the Diyarbakir Bar Association, the Diyarbakir branch of the Human Rights Association of Turkey (HRA), and the Gomidas Institute (GI). At noon, attendees gathered at the Monument of Common Conscience (Ortak Vicdan Anıtı), where pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) parliamentarian Altan Tan, GI’s Ara Sarafian, head of the Diyarbakir Bar Association Tahir Elçi, and HRA Diyarbakir member Raci Bilici delivered speeches. Altan Tan stated that the genocide committed in 1915 against Armenians and Assyrians is a dark blemish on the pages of history. Today, only through understanding one another can we defeat the oppressors, he noted.

The Turkish Majlis simply repeat official and false theses concerning the Armenian genocide. At the same time the parliament sponsors and spreads the “academic” literature which denies the Genocide. Since 2007 a new element changed the former uniform atmosphere to a certain degree where representatives of  the pro Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party started talking loudly about the Armenian genocide. The issue of the Armenian Genocide was rather actively discussed in the Majlis in 2009. After the “Armenologists” Yusuf Halacoglu, Sinan Ogan and Sayit Sertcelik (the only one who speaks Armenian) who deny the Armenian Genocide became deputies, Halacaoglu came forward with an initiative to establish anti-Armenian group, and the speaker of the Majlis Jemil Cicek expressed readiness to help him. (one of the “godfathers” and adherents of the well-known articles 301 of the Criminal Code for what he received “Jemil 301” nickname). The only exclusion was the oppositional Kurdish party – and the group were ready to include Kurd deputies: “if they say the truth”, i.e. if they  also deny the Armenian genocide, but they were disappointed. Kurdish Peace and Democracy party deputy Altan Tan turned to the Armenian topic at a conference in Mardin and stated: “The Amenian Genocide took place in 1915. I use word genocide as a political figure and I want it to be fixed”. Later on in his interview to “Agos” in Istanbul, he went more deeply in the issue and proved the unsoundness of that policy grounded on the falsifications carried by the Turkish officials. (4)

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1- http://ceftus.org/2014/07/07/altan-tan-mp/

2- http://www.armeniapedia.org/wiki/Altan_Tan

3- http://armeniangenocide100.org/en/kurdish-mp-genocide-was-perpetrated-against-armenians-in-1915-2/

4- http://www.noravank.am/eng/issues/detail.php?ELEMENT_ID=616

European Green Party adopts Armenian Genocide resolution

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green party genocideThe European Friends of Armenia has informed that a resolution on the Armenian Genocide was adopted by a large majority at the 23rd European Green Party Council in Lyon, France, on Sunday.

The text acknowledges that the Ottoman Empire perpetrated Genocide against the Armenian people. It also calls on Turkey to recognize the Armenian Genocide and work towards reconciliation with the Armenia and its people.

With this initiative the European Green Party calls upon all countries which have not yet done so to publicly recognize the Armenian Genocide.  It underlines that doing so will positively impact the normalization of the relations between Turkey and Armenia and help prevent further crimes against humanity.

The European Green Party is a pan-European political party which federates over 45 Green parties across Europe, present also in Eastern Partner countries. In the European Parliament their members sit in the Greens – European Free Alliance parliamentary group totalizing 50 seats.

The European Green Party mourns the destruction of the Armenian cultural heritage and calls upon the Turkish government to respect the Armenian cultural legacy and take strong measures to protect it.  The resolution asks the Turkish government to re-evaluate historical and cultural narratives and open its archives to historians, researchers and academics in an effort to come to terms with the past. The logical continuation of this would be to immediately abolish Article 301 of the Turkish penal code, which censors political and public debate on the genocide.

The text emphasizes that everybody has the right to have their history recognized and their culture respected.  By acknowledging the Armenian Genocide the European Green Party wants to pay due respect to its victims as a step towards reconciliation and historical reparation.

MEP Michèle Rivasi, who is vice-chair of the Greens/EFA Group in the European Parliament and member of the European Friends of Armenia Advisory Council, comments: “As the tragic events in Paris reminds us: the world is in trouble, more than ever. For many years hate speech has not been sufficiently condemned, and helped extremists in spreading their propaganda and raising the level of violence. We cannot continue like this, we have to reverse this vicious spiral with an even more opened democracy and also the duty to recognize the errors and crimes that led to the current situation.

The European Green Party resolution on the centenary of the Armenian genocide aims at reminding every country that they have a part to play for a more peaceful world. This is one of the reasons, why Turkey has to stop now its state policy of denial. Because denial is the fuel that feeds the engine of hate and prevents us from reaching peace. Turkey will only find advantages in finally recognizing the Armenian Genocide and step into History. There will be no peace without recognition of the Armenian genocide.”

As 2015 marks the centenary of the Armenian Genocide many other European  countries, Pan-European institutions and political parties have acknowledged or reaffirmed their recognition of the Armenian Genocide and have urged Turkey to so as well.

“I am very pleased to see a growing number of European Political families recognizing the Armenian Genocide,”- says Eduardo Lorenzo Ochoa, director of European Friends of Armenia (EuFoA, www.EuFoA.org)   “The European Green Party resolution is especially important because it not only pays tribute to the victims of the first Genocide of the 20th century, but also explains clearly the importance of doing so if we want to secure a common future and prevent further crimes against humanity.”

Ayse oktem Turkish Intellectuals Who Have Recognized The Armenian Genocide

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Turkish intelec 85By Hambersom Aghbashian,

Ayse oktem, the General manager of DVV International in Turkey*, is a Turkish intellectual  born in Istanbul to an İstanbulian family with a very mixed ethnic background. Her maternal grandfather  was a Sabbatean Jew from Salonika. Her maternal grandmother was of Bogumilian origin – a Christian sect, from mother’s side and the grandfather’s father was a member of Ottoman military. Maybe this was her first impulse concerning the Armenian genocide as she says. Her grand-grandfather, Ethem Pasha, was a miralay, a colonel, in the Ottoman Army. He knew Enver and Talat Pashas and was against them and Young Turks’ policies. He joined the battle of Sarıkamış in 1914, and was killed just at the beginning of the battle and after his death, he was  promoted to Pasha, a higher rank in ottoman empire. His wife believed that he was killed because he was against the young Turks policies.
Ayse Oktem had born in very bourgeois and wealthy family, but her parents, were leftists, and left Turkey for political reasons. She spent most of her life in Germany, where she learned to be a migrant, to be a member of an inferior group  “the Turks”. On the other hand, as the granddaughter of a Jew, she was part of the Holocaust suffered nation in the land of the murderers. She studied first German Language and Linguistics, than Sociology and earned her Master of Philosophy degree in Sociology. She is currently the Turkey – coordinator of the project “Acting Together”**, financed by German Foreign Office, and implemented by the Germany based Adult Education Organization DVV International, married to a German and lives with her husband in Istanbul.

On April 19, 2014, (EGAM, AGBU Europe and DurDe)***, announced in a press release that for the second year  in a row and 99 years after the genocide of 1915, a European delegation
composed of twenty anti-racist and Armenian leaders from 15 countries will be present in Turkey for the commemoration of the genocide against the Armenians, held in that city for the fifth consecutive year. It was a response to the call of EGAM partners in Turkey DürDe! (Say Stop to Racism!) and the Human Rights Association – IHD. EGAM invited AGBU Europe to support the Turkish civil society working for the recognition of the Armenian genocide. The initiative was supported by numerous personalities (including Charles Aznavour, Serge Klarsfeld, Bernard Kouchner, Dario Fo, Bernard-Henri Lévy, Adam Michnik, Tahar Ben Jelloun, Ahmet Insel, Olivero Toscani, Jovan Divjak, and others) and representatives of European civil society, who have signed an appeal published in several prominent European newspapers and was signed by Paul Morin, Executive Director of EGAM (Europe), Cengiz Algan & Levent Sensever, Spokespeople for Durde! (Turkey), Alexis Govciyan, President & Nicolas Tavitian, Director of AGBU (Europe), Ayse Öktem, Platform for “Confronting a Century of Denial” (Turkey),Charles Aznavour, Bernard Henri Lévy, Abdullah Demirbas, Ara Toranian, Serge Klarsfeld, Öztürk Türkdoğan, Head of the Human Rights Association (IHD) (Turkey), Bernard Kouchner, former French Minister of Foreign and many others. (1)
According to Armenia News- NEWS.am, Sept. 22, 2015, Ayse Oktem, the Turkish representative of DVV International, who participated in a media conference dedicated to the first stage of program of Armenia-Turkey reconciliation entitled “Acting Together”, said “If civil society in Turkey is strong enough and recognizes the Armenian Genocide, any government will be forced to retract.” She added, Turkish and Kurdish participants are involved in the project and expressed hope that Germany would recognize the Armenian Genocide, too. “I hope that recognition of the Armenian Genocide by Turkey will not be a result of external pressure, but will come from within, from the people of Turkey,” Oktem added. (2)
About 25 years ago Ayse Oktem began a research about muslimized Armenians, where nobody believed, that there might be muslimized Armenians, expect her mother and her aunt, who – as daughters of Sabbatean Jewish father knew very well, that it can lived with a false identity. After a while she ended her researches and began to work at NGOs in Germany in the field of Migration, Discrimination, Anti-Racism, Empowerment of Migrants. For more than twenty years she worked at several NGOs in Hamburg/ Germany, and became a manager of social work and adult education, in the field of Migration, Education and Empowerment for Migrants, Anti-Discrimination. She managed projects for the education of young migrants, two of the projects with a bilingual, culture sensitive approach esp. for young refugees won important awards. She returned to Turkey about 4 years ago and continued to work in NGOs in the field of Adult Education, also she is  democratization, peace and genocide recognition actvist.
She was among the organizers of the commemorations of the genocide in 2014 and 2015.
Remembering her grand-grandfather Ethem Pasa who was killed in Sarıkamış, Ayse Oktwm always asked herself, what would have happened if he , Ethem Pasa , had survived the Sarıkamış battle. Would she have been the granddaughter of the murderer Ethem Pasha or would have been the granddaughter of a real hero, who saved lives and/or refused an order to kill innocent people.
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Thanks to Ayse Oktem for providing information, reviewing and enhancing this article (H.A.).

*DVV International: Is the Institute for International Cooperation of the Deutscher Volkshochschul-Verband e.V. (DVV), the German Adult Education Association.

**Acting Together:  Is a joint initiative of DVV International and its partners, the History Foundation (Turkey) and the Armenian Centre for Ethnological Studies “Hazarashen” (Armenia)
and funded by the German Federal Foreign Office. A century after the Genocide, they aim at building bridges between the people of Turkey and Armenia through adult education, journalism, oral history and art.

***EGAM : The European Grassroots Antiracist Movement.
AGBU : Armenian General Benevolent Union.
DurDe : is one of Turkey’s leading civil and human rights organizations

1- www.egam.eu
2- http://news.am/eng/news/287301.html.

Italy’s Abruzzo Region recognizes #ArmenianGenocide

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Abruzzo regionalAbruzzo Region of Italy on Tuesday recognized the Armenian Genocide.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia press service informed Armenian News-NEWS.am that the respective resolution, which the Abruzzo Regional Council unanimously adopted, expresses solidarity with the Armenian people on the occasion of the Armenian Genocide Centennial, and in their struggle for acknowledgment of the historical truth and human rights.

The draft resolution was submitted by council member and ruling Democratic Party representative Luciano Monticelli.

“Today, we have written a beautiful chapter in the political history of our region,” Monticelli stated after the passing of this resolution. “The unanimous adoption of a resolution on such an important issue is the great testimony of the maturity of the regional council. I hope the recollection on the injustice that occurred so far in the past from our daily concerns will guide us also to condemn the persecutions and violence taking place nowadays, and to render practical assistance to their victims.”

The Abruzzo Regional Council has become the 99th council to recognize the Armenian Genocide at the level of local government bodies of Italy.