Belgian Senator: it's imperative to honor genocide victims and to prevent future atrocities

PanARMENIAN.Net - The Royal Conservatory of Belgium was full of diplomats, journalists and students on April 25 as Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian highlighted a Commemorative Evening under the auspices of the Armenian Embassy in Brussels.



The Minister's talk, entitled Remembering a Past, Forging a Future, addressed the nature and  purpose of remembering. He spoke about Armenia's readiness for normal relations with Turkey, even as the Genocide and its impact are remembered and recognized.



Belgian Senator Roelants du Vivier, head of the Belgian Senate's Committee on Foreign Affairs, spoke about the imperative of acknowledging both to honor genocide victims and to prevent future atrocities. He related how, during a recent visit to Yerevan, in the Tsitsernakaberd Genocide Memorial museum, he was moved by the display of Hitler's words.  The Belgian Senator had, in 1987, joined in the first Genocide recognition resolution passed by the European Parliament, the RA MFA reports.