German MEP Broek : “Fighting against genocide denial is political duty”
Ararat News-Publishing (ANP) - 14 / 10/ 2009 – Last week, the European Parliament in Brussels hosted a conference on "Denial and Democracy in Europe". The conference was organized by the European Armenian Federation for Justice and Democracy (EAFJD), in association with the Centre Communautaire Laïc Juif (Jewish Laic Community Centre) and IBUKA Mémoire & Justice (Ibuka Memory and Justice Association) and with the support and patronage of Elmar Brok, (Christian Democrat, Germany).
In a press release the organisers of the conference resumed the main points of the discussion. The keynote speakers included German MEP Mr Elmar Brok, French MEP Mr Jean-Marie Cavada, and Dr H.C. Ralph Giordano, a German intellectual and Holocaust survivor. Mr Brok and Mr Cavada expressed the importance of the Framework Decision and Dr H.C. Giordano said that any hope for reconciliation between Turkey and Armenia should be contingent on Turkey’s recognition of the Armenian Genocide.
Mr Brok said that the struggle against genocide denial is “an outgrowth of Europe’s history and experience of the Holocaust.” Brok explained that Hitler’s famous statement that no one remembered the Armenians who perished at the hands of the Ottoman Turks, was used as proof to his party that there was impunity for the crimes his party was committing. He stated that “upholding remembrance and fighting against genocide denial is a political duty”.
Mr Cavada emphasized the contrast between Germany’s response to their history and Turkey’s obstinate position on the Armenian Genocide, despite the facts. He explained that understanding one’s national history is a cornerstone to democracy and, tackling the topic of Turkey’s EU accession talks, that “we cannot trust a government that does not look at its own past.”
Mr Giordano, having survived the Holocaust and having studied the Armenian Genocide, recounted the political history of the events leading up to 1915, calling the Genocide an “apocalypse of universal extent,” the likes of which the world has only ever seen one other time, upon the liberation of Germany following WWII. Mr Giordano explained that the Jews and Armenians are a uniquely unified people with a tragic history shared by survivors and descendents alike.
Article 1 of the Framework Decision Framework Decision against Racism and Xenophobia prohibits genocide denial in the EU. As EU Member States must incorporate the provisions of this Framework Decision into their national legislations by 2010, the strength of individual domestic interpretations is on the table.
Mrs Hilda Tchoboian, as Chairperson of the European Armenian Federation, called upon the various ministries of justice and the EU Fundamental Rights Agency to implement strict interpretations of the Framework Decision and thus introduce a legal standard for genocide denial, and to monitor and address genocide denial in the EU in all its forms.
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