Official Yerevan Welcomes ‘Important Step’
The Hellenic Parliament adopted a bill (54 to 42, three abstentions) on Sept. 9 criminalizing the denial of genocides including the Holocaust, the Armenian Genocide, and the genocide of the Pontic Greeks, thus becoming the third European country after Switzerland and Slovakia to adopt such a measure.
The bill known as “Fight against Xenophobia” envisions bringing criminal charges for denial of the genocides of not only Jews, but also Armenians and Pontus Greeks. The bill stipulates heavy fines and imprisonment terms for individuals who publicly deny genocides and other crimes against humanity that are recognized by the Greek Parliament and international courts.
Armenia’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement welcoming the adoption of the bill. “The adoption of this Bill once again demonstrates adherence of Greece to the universal human values and is an important step towards the prevention of genocides and other heinous crimes against humanity,” said Minister of Foreign Affairs Edward Nalbandian.
Yes! I am happy to hear that the Greeks are in agreement with the Armenians on this! What took so long?
Congratulations Mr. Erdogan,You can still denay the Massacres of Armenian and Pontian Greeks.
Thank you Greece ,xxxxx thanks
It’s unfortunate that the SyriacAssyrian people were not mentioned by name in the bill. The new bill, as far as I’m concerned, is not complete.
Shameful…. Shameful that Greece waited so long to ratify this important law. And NOW by a vote of 54 for passing the law and 42 Against??? WHAT were they waiting for?
Greece should LEAD the EU in these efforts, NOT be the third in line after Switzerland and Slovakia. Did we learn NOTHING from 1974 in Cyprus and in 1922-23 In Asia Minor?
Erdogan recently stated that the only solution for Cyprus is a two state division, Not even a two state federation under a single “sovereignty”. This Could have tipped the balance. Whatever the reason, Greece, whose Asia Minor communities were VICTIMs themselves and who was front row witness to the Genocide of the Armenians and Assyrians SHOULD have been first in line to ratify a law punishing the denial of genocide.
Better late, than never………
Well done Greece. It is about time other nations in the vicinity of Armenia, especially in the Middle East, officially recognised the Armenian Genocide. After all, most of them witnessed the influx of Armenian refugees into their countries during this horrific crime against a nation and humanity, that is to say those who were lucky enough to miraculously escape this organised and intentional ethnic clensing. How long will their conscience allow them to keep quiet?
This is good, but 54 to 42 is not encouraging, and quite strange. It would help if the stories of those 42 in opposition is also revealed as to who they were and what their intentions were.
I am all for “free speech” but not hypocrisy when it comes to genocide recognition, which is what most of the world is suffering from when it comes to the Armenian Genocide. One cannot recognize the WWII holocaust, but not the WWI Armenian Genocide and expect not to be a hypocrite.
Kemal Mostapha Atatourk who mastered the holocaust of 4.5 millions of Turkey’s indigenous populations (Hellenes, Armenians, Assyrians, and other non-turkics) in fact was a Jewish Turk who hated Christians. How can Turkey regarding such FATHER OF TURKS be genuinely be Godly at all? Germans also had their share in this by advising and inciting Turks to annihilate all the non-turkic ethnicities; whence later in WW2. they too imitated the HOLOCAUST against Jews. As well the 1955 Turks pogrom against Hellenes in Constantinople and Smyrna is its further black stigma. Turkey and Nazis are history’s master killers, uncivilised absolutely. Currently they are aiding the jihadists’ crimes in Syria and Iraq
You are right. He also hated Muslims and that is why he destroyed, abolished and banned anything Islamic. He also supported and stood behind the massacre in 1938 of nearly 40,000 Alevi ethnic minorities in Dersim (now called Tunceli) through staged rebellions in order to bring them under the state control. He died shortly after that.
The illiterate, brainwashed and peasant-minded Turks think Ataturk was the best thing that ever happened to them and they revere, worship and regard him as the father of the Turks when in fact he was not even a Turk but a pseudo-Turk and a left-over from a blood-line of immigrants and refugees escaping the Spanish Inquisition.
The Turkish mentality is consistent with their fabricated Turkish history though. They claim theirs what never was and have been living a lie all these years. They are completely clueless and oblivious to the fact that they are living the life their victims created for them. This is so because since the times of this pseudo-Turk Ataturk, generations of Turks have deliberately been disconnected from their genocidal past and have been subjected to institutionalized brainwashing and racism to falsely believe they belong to a great nation and that everybody out there, particularly the remainders of the indigenous Christians they murdered in cold-blood, are not to be trusted and that they are out to get them in order to create a defensive shield to protect their ill-gotten wealth and territories.
Any reasonably intelligent human being with common sense can realize that only a Muslim-hating pseudo-Turk, such as Ataturk, would destroy all things Islamic when less than a hundred years ago, and for over six centuries, you could not be considered a real Turk unless you had Turkish origin and were Muslim!
I read somewhere (don’t remember where), that there is more to this bill than meets the eye. Apparently, when the bill was first introduced, and which was forced upon the Greeks by some EU people, it mentioned _only_ the Jewish Holocaust. Pontic Greek and Armenian genocides were added later at the insistence of some Greek nationalist MPs. Also, there is a feeling that this bill will be used by Turks in Greece against Greeks.
No idea if this is true or not, because this is 2nd hand info.
But the fact that 42 Greek MPs voted against it is very strange.
Maybe there is something to the story.
Otherwise, why would _any_ Greek MP vote against criminalization of the denial of Pontic Greek Genocide ?
Maybe Mr. Harut Sassounian will do a follow-up article on this very important item: if anyone would know about any machinations, he would.
Well Avery they vote against it because it upsets us and we are Greece’s neighbor, we trade, both NATO, etc.
On the world stage when you decide to do something you have to think of the bigger picture and how it effects everybody. You can never fix emotions with politics. It’s the same story with Obama.
Avery,
I wouldn’t trust the Greeks.. They don’t even teach their children that the Turks basically raped, murdered and stole their ancient homelands. All this while Turkey occupies 1/2 of Cyprus.. Trust the Armenian military above all else..Thats were I put my trust..I can care less if any third lackey country recognizes the AG anymore..