Greece ready to further support Armenian Cause: President

PanARMENIAN.Net - Greece will go on supporting the Armenian Cause, President Prokopios Pavlopoulos said at a meeting with the Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia Aram I on Monday, October 19.

Catholicos Aram I arrived in Athens with His Beatitude John X Yazigi, the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch and All the East.

Pavlopoulos expressed deep respect for the Armenian people, reiterating his commitment to the Armenian Cause. He also hailed the Armenian community of Greece that has greatly contributed to the prosperity and development of the country.

His Holiness Aram addressed the conference “Religious and Cultural Pluralism & Peaceful Coexistence in the Middle East,” stressing Greece’s important role in bridging the east and the west.

His Holiness also praised the Greek President’s stance, as he has been supporting the Armenian Case before and after taking office.

The Greek Parliament recognized the Armenian Genocide on April 25, 1996, and on July 10, 1996 Pres. Konstantinos Stefanopoulos signed a decree, declaring April 24 to be “the memorial day of the genocide of the Armenians by Turkey.”

The Greek Parliament adopted by a vote of 54 to 42, on September 9, 2014, an anti-hate crime law — Combating Discrimination, Xenophobia, and Racism — making it illegal to deny the Jewish Holocaust, and genocides recognized by international courts or by the Greek Parliament, i.e., the genocide of Pontus Greeks, the genocide of Asia Minor Greeks, and the Armenian Genocide. Those violating this new law would be fined up to 30,000 euros, and imprisoned for up to three years.