Israeli president chided by Armenian community for non-recognition of the 1915 genocide
27.04.2015,
11:59
President Reuven Rivlin hosted on Sunday the representatives of the Armenian community who expressed their disappointment with president’s reluctance to call the century-old mass killings of Armenians a genocide, Novosti-Armenia reported referring to RIA Novosti.
YEREVAN, April 27. /ARKA/. President Reuven Rivlin hosted on Sunday the representatives of the Armenian community who expressed their disappointment with president’s reluctance to call the century-old mass killings of Armenians a genocide, Novosti-Armenia reported referring to RIA Novosti.
Rivlin used ‘mass killings of Armenians’ or ‘Armenian tragedy’ terms instead and said the Israeli authorities did not aim at holding a certain country responsible for it, according to the press office.
“We have the moral obligation to point to the facts, not matter how horrible they are. We should not ignore them, The Armenian people were the first victims of modern mass killing,” Rivlin said as cited by his press office.
The president also said he was proud to host the Armenian community at the presidential residence, for the first time, to commemorate April 24 with them.
On April 24, 2015, the world was commemorating the centenary of the Armenian genocide in Ottoman Turkey.
Archbishop of Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem Aris Shirvanyan expressed his disappointment with official Israel avoiding to use the ‘genocide’ term, the press report says. The president said he accepted the criticism and that more efforts should be made to bring up the issue of the killings of Armenian.
The main Armenian genocide commemoration ceremonies were held in Yerevan on Friday. Israel was represented by two lawmakers and the Israeli ambassador to Armenia at the events. Parliament member from the opposition Zionist Union Nahman Shai urged his colleagues not to hesitate anymore and to recognize the Armenian genocide, as cited by the website of Knesset.
The Armenian Genocide was the first genocide of the twentieth century.
According to Armenian and many other historians, up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed starting in 1915 in a systematic campaign by the government of Turkey.
Turkey has been denying it for decades.
The Armenian Genocide was recognized by tens of countries. The first was Uruguay that did so in 1965. Other nations are Russia, France, Italy, Germany, Holland, Belgium, Poland, Lithuania, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland, Greece, Cyprus, Lebanon, Canada, Venezuela, Argentina, 43 U.S. states. It was recognized also by the Vatican, the European Parliament, the World Council of Churches and other international organizations. –0--
