Malta's Labor Party representative calls on government to recognize Armenian Genocide

PanARMENIAN.Net - The government of Malta intends to institute a day of remembrance in which parliament will rise to commemorate the victims of genocide and crimes against humanity. But the government has no intention of tabling a motion to condemn the Armenian Genocide, as proposed by Labor Party spokesperson Noel Farrugia during parliamentary hearing last week, Malta Today reports.



Foreign Minister Tonio Borg insists that Malta is under no obligation to condemn the Armenian genocide, but would be abiding by a 21-year-old resolution approved by the European Parliament calling on all EU member states "to dedicate a day to the memory of the genocide and crimes against humanity perpetrated in the 20th century, specifically against the Armenians and Jews."



Farrugia asked Tonio Borg whether the government intends to present a motion to condemn the Armenian genocide, committed by the Ottoman Empire between 1915 and 1917, when up to 1.5 million of Armenians were massacred.



A substantial part of the Armenian population was forcibly removed from Armenia and Anatolia to Syria, where the vast majority was sent into the desert to die of thirst and hunger. The entire wealth of the Armenian people was expropriated.



Turkey strongly denies that the Armenians were the victim of genocide and has reacted harshly when resolutions condemning the Armenian Genocide were passed by parliaments in 21 different countries.