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BULGARIA'S PARLIAMENT TURNS DOWN RESOLUTION ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
Sofia Echo
http://www.sofiaecho.com/2012/01/11/1742599_bulgarias-parliament-turns-down-resolution-on-armenian-genocide
Jan 11 2012
Bulgaria
The latest attempt by Bulgarian ultra-nationalist party Ataka to
ask the country's Parliament to recognise the Armenian genocide was
defeated in the House on January 11 2012.
Vehemently rejected as historically valid by Turkey, the "Armenian
genocide" refers to events during conflicts from 1915 as the Ottoman
empire neared its end.
The issue of the Armenian genocide has troubled Turkey's bilateral
relations with Armenia for several years. Where countries recently have
formally recognised the Armenian genocide or moved towards doing so -
lately including Sweden in 2010, a US congressional committee and in
recent weeks, France - Ankara has responded with protests including
severing or limiting diplomatic and economic ties.
The municipalities of a number of Bulgarian cities, among them Plovdiv,
Varna, Bourgas and Stara Zagora, have approved resolutions recognising
the Armenian genocide but over the years, similar resolutions in
Parliament have failed.
This was the case on January 11, as the National Assembly - Bulgaria's
unicameral legislature - resumed business for the New Year.
Volen Siderov, leader of Ataka, a party whose platform includes an
overall anti-Turkish stance against the background of the centuries
of Ottoman rule of Bulgaria, said that it was natural for a "patriotic
party" such as his to recognise the Armenian genocide.
"To hide certain aspects of history because they are not good for
you as a country is, to me, demagoguery," Siderov said.
He said that Ataka's resolution was not an attempt to politicise
the issue or to tread into the field of natural history, but was
a proposal based on reason, the necessity to recognise unpleasant
moments in history.
The Movement for Rights and Freedoms, a minority party led and
supported in the main by Bulgarians of Turkish ethnicity, objected
strongly to Parliament being asked to deal with the issue.
It was not the function of Parliament to decide historical truth,
senior MRF MP Lyutvi Mestan said. The draft resolution was intended
to force a mandatory way of thinking, he said.
Sofia Echo
http://www.sofiaecho.com/2012/01/11/1742599_bulgarias-parliament-turns-down-resolution-on-armenian-genocide
Jan 11 2012
Bulgaria
The latest attempt by Bulgarian ultra-nationalist party Ataka to
ask the country's Parliament to recognise the Armenian genocide was
defeated in the House on January 11 2012.
Vehemently rejected as historically valid by Turkey, the "Armenian
genocide" refers to events during conflicts from 1915 as the Ottoman
empire neared its end.
The issue of the Armenian genocide has troubled Turkey's bilateral
relations with Armenia for several years. Where countries recently have
formally recognised the Armenian genocide or moved towards doing so -
lately including Sweden in 2010, a US congressional committee and in
recent weeks, France - Ankara has responded with protests including
severing or limiting diplomatic and economic ties.
The municipalities of a number of Bulgarian cities, among them Plovdiv,
Varna, Bourgas and Stara Zagora, have approved resolutions recognising
the Armenian genocide but over the years, similar resolutions in
Parliament have failed.
This was the case on January 11, as the National Assembly - Bulgaria's
unicameral legislature - resumed business for the New Year.
Volen Siderov, leader of Ataka, a party whose platform includes an
overall anti-Turkish stance against the background of the centuries
of Ottoman rule of Bulgaria, said that it was natural for a "patriotic
party" such as his to recognise the Armenian genocide.
"To hide certain aspects of history because they are not good for
you as a country is, to me, demagoguery," Siderov said.
He said that Ataka's resolution was not an attempt to politicise
the issue or to tread into the field of natural history, but was
a proposal based on reason, the necessity to recognise unpleasant
moments in history.
The Movement for Rights and Freedoms, a minority party led and
supported in the main by Bulgarians of Turkish ethnicity, objected
strongly to Parliament being asked to deal with the issue.
It was not the function of Parliament to decide historical truth,
senior MRF MP Lyutvi Mestan said. The draft resolution was intended
to force a mandatory way of thinking, he said.