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The House of Representatives of the Netherlands has adopted a motion put forward by MP Joël Voordewind (ChristenUnie), calling on the Dutch government explicitly to recognize the Armenian Genocide, the Federation of Armenian Organizations in the Netherlands (FAON) reported.

Pleased with the clear ruling of the Dutch parliament, FAON said now it is the government’s move to finally recognize the Armenian Genocide.

The motion was adopted almost unanimously. This very broad support for the motion shows that for too long there has been great dissatisfaction in the parliament how the successive governments have dealt with the Armenian Genocide.

FAON, the 24 April Committee and all Armenians are thankful to Joël Voordewind and also to the many other MPs, who were committed to the recognition of the Armenian genocide for many years. Many of them showed their commitment by being present at 24 april commemorations, at Genocide monuments, concerts, such as the Armenian Genocide Centennial commemoration concert in the Grote Kerk in the Hague. FAON is grateful to them all. FAON is also thanking the members of Recommending Committee of 24 April Committee for their support for years.

The motion's message is that a clear language is needed to resolve precarious issues in the future. The FAON considers this idea especially important, given the current situation, in which Genocide Watch warned of a new genocide during the war in Nagorno-Karabakh, and after the war both Turkey and Azerbaijan are aggressive towards Armenia.

The failure to identify and recognize historical events as genocide can be considerd as the wrong signal.

The FAON assumes that the government will not disregard this very clear statement of the parliament and will implement it.

In earlier motions (2015, 2018), the parliament explicitly recognized the Armenian Genocide, after the Dutch parliament had already recognised it in 2004 in the motion by MP Rouvoet adopted unanimously, which appeals to the government “to expressly and continuously raise the recognition of the Armenian Genocide during the bilateral and EU dialogue with Turkey”.

With the new motion, the parliament announces that it can no longer agree with the government's current approach.

As it is known, other Christian minorities, such as Assyrians, Arameans and Pontic Greeks, were also victims of the Armenian Genocide. In the same way as for Dutch people with an Armenian backgroud, also for people with these backgrounds, the government's failure to recognize the genocide has always been painful.