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KNESSET TO CONVENE PARLIAMENTARY SESSION TO MARK THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
ARMENPRESS
14:53, 2 November, 2011
Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin said Monday that he wanted to convene
an annual parliamentary session of the full Knesset to mark the
Armenian Genocide. "It is my duty as a Jew and Israeli to recognize
the tragedies of other peoples," Rivlin said, Asbarez.com reports.
Rivlin added that diplomatic considerations, important as they may be,
should not deter us from recognizing a tragecy experienced by another
people, reported the Haaretz newspaper.
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
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.
The recognition of the Genocide and issues related to commemorating
April 24 will be debated in coming weeks by the relevant committees of
the Knesset, said Armenian National Committee of Jerusalem chairman
Hagop Sevan, saying that the legislature has reconvened following a
long summer break.
Sevan also said that representatives of the ANC Jerusalem will be
holding meetings with Knesset members in coming days and weeks.
ARMENPRESS
14:53, 2 November, 2011
Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin said Monday that he wanted to convene
an annual parliamentary session of the full Knesset to mark the
Armenian Genocide. "It is my duty as a Jew and Israeli to recognize
the tragedies of other peoples," Rivlin said, Asbarez.com reports.
Rivlin added that diplomatic considerations, important as they may be,
should not deter us from recognizing a tragecy experienced by another
people, reported the Haaretz newspaper.
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
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.
The recognition of the Genocide and issues related to commemorating
April 24 will be debated in coming weeks by the relevant committees of
the Knesset, said Armenian National Committee of Jerusalem chairman
Hagop Sevan, saying that the legislature has reconvened following a
long summer break.
Sevan also said that representatives of the ANC Jerusalem will be
holding meetings with Knesset members in coming days and weeks.