THE HAGUE (FAON)–The Dutch Parliament on Wednesday unanimously adopted a motion on recognition of the Armenian genocide–reported the Federation of the Armenian Organizations in the Netherlands.
Introduced by the Chairman of Christian Union faction Andr Rouvoet–the motion specifically directs Dutch government officials "to bring up recognition of the Armenian Genocide continuously and expressly in [their] dialogue with Turkey." The motion was backed by all political parties in the Parliament.
It was introduced during a debate on the outcome of last Friday’s summit of European leaders who decided to begin EU accession talks with Turkey. In that debate–nearly all Dutch political factions addressed the absence of the Armenian genocide issue in the EU’s Presidency Conclusions. The Dutch–ironically–currently hold the EU Presidency.
Dutch Foreign Minister Ben Bot–nevertheless–assured the Parliament that the Armenian question has always been brought up in meetings with Turkish colleagues.
The Armenian community of The Netherlands has consistently pushed the Dutch Parliament and government to recognize the Armenian genocide–especially in the run-up to and during the Dutch presidency of the EU.
