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KNESSET SPEAKER WORKING TO BOOST RECOGNITION OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
armradio.am
31.10.2011 19:45
Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin said Monday that he wanted to convene an
annual parliamentary session of the full Knesset to mark the Armenian
genocide of 1915 and 1916 at the hands of the Turks. It is my duty
as a Jew and Israeli to recognize the tragedies of other peoples,
Rivlin said, speaking to an Israel-based Armenian action committee.
Rivlin added: Diplomatic considerations, important as they may be,
do not allow us to deny the disaster experienced by another people,
Haaretz reports.
In recent years the Prime Minister's Office and the Foreign Ministry
have applied heavy pressure to head off such sessions of the Knesset
out of concern that relations between Israel and Turkey would be
harmed. Turkey denies that it committed genocide against the Armenians.
Since 2008, the full Knesset has allowed the Foreign Affairs and
Defense Committee to hold sessions that have been closed to the
media about the Armenian genocide. Last week, for the first time,
the full Knesset approved the convening of an open, public session
on the issue by the Education, Culture and Sports Committee, at the
request of Meretz Knesset member Zahava Gal-On. This represents a
complete change in approach on the issue.
As part of the Foreign Ministry's attempt in recent years to block
pro-Armenian genocide commemorations, in 2007, ministry staff expressed
what was called dissatisfaction with plans to hold a session in the
Knesset plenum on the issue. The prime minister at the time, Ehud
Olmert, intervened to have the session canceled.
In October of 2008, in an unprecedented move, the Knesset voted to
have a parliamentary committee convene on the Armenian genocide at
the initiative of then-Meretz chairman Haim Oron, paving the way for
the sessions in the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. Over the
past two years, however, after relations between Israel and Turkey
deteriorated, the Foreign Ministry s opposition to the issue abated,
though Rivlin s latest move was at his own initiative.
armradio.am
31.10.2011 19:45
Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin said Monday that he wanted to convene an
annual parliamentary session of the full Knesset to mark the Armenian
genocide of 1915 and 1916 at the hands of the Turks. It is my duty
as a Jew and Israeli to recognize the tragedies of other peoples,
Rivlin said, speaking to an Israel-based Armenian action committee.
Rivlin added: Diplomatic considerations, important as they may be,
do not allow us to deny the disaster experienced by another people,
Haaretz reports.
In recent years the Prime Minister's Office and the Foreign Ministry
have applied heavy pressure to head off such sessions of the Knesset
out of concern that relations between Israel and Turkey would be
harmed. Turkey denies that it committed genocide against the Armenians.
Since 2008, the full Knesset has allowed the Foreign Affairs and
Defense Committee to hold sessions that have been closed to the
media about the Armenian genocide. Last week, for the first time,
the full Knesset approved the convening of an open, public session
on the issue by the Education, Culture and Sports Committee, at the
request of Meretz Knesset member Zahava Gal-On. This represents a
complete change in approach on the issue.
As part of the Foreign Ministry's attempt in recent years to block
pro-Armenian genocide commemorations, in 2007, ministry staff expressed
what was called dissatisfaction with plans to hold a session in the
Knesset plenum on the issue. The prime minister at the time, Ehud
Olmert, intervened to have the session canceled.
In October of 2008, in an unprecedented move, the Knesset voted to
have a parliamentary committee convene on the Armenian genocide at
the initiative of then-Meretz chairman Haim Oron, paving the way for
the sessions in the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. Over the
past two years, however, after relations between Israel and Turkey
deteriorated, the Foreign Ministry s opposition to the issue abated,
though Rivlin s latest move was at his own initiative.