23:14, 23 May 2018

Israeli Parliament to discuss recognition of Armenian Genocide

The 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. The Tsitsernakaberd Memorial Museum. Photo by Tigran Petrosyan for the "Caucasian Knot"

The Israeli Knesset (Parliament) has accepted for consideration a bill on the recognition of the massacres of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire as genocide.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that in December 2017, Yair Lapid, the leader of the Israeli "Yesh Atid" oppositional party, brought the above bill into the Knesset. However, on February 14, the Knesset refused to consider the initiative.

The Armenian Genocide is recognized by such states as Argentina, Belgium, Vatican, Greece, Canada, Cyprus, the Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Slovakia, Uruguay, France, the Czech Republic, and Switzerland. The authorities of Turkey do not treat mass killings of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire as genocide.

This time, a new legislative initiative to recognize Armenian Genocide was put forward by Tamar Zandberg, the leader of the left-wing oppositional "Meretz" Party. Today, the Knesset has agreed to hold a plenary session to discuss the bill.

Ms Zandberg has stated that the bill has nothing to do with the current deterioration of Israeli-Turkish relations. According to her version, the non-recognition of Armenian Genocide is a "moral stain" on Israel; and the issue should be solved regardless of any political disputes, the Jerusalem Post reports.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.