For the first time ever, a member of the Dutch government attended the commemoration fo the Armenian genocide of 1915 and 1916 in Yerevan.
State Secretary Menno Snel of Finance was at the ceremony in the Armenian capital, at the insistence of the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of Dutch parliament. In the presence of the other foreign guests, he lay flowers at the monument for the victims, NOS reports.
State Secretary Menno Snel of Finance will attend the commemoration of the Armenian genocide in Armenia next week. This is the first time a member of the Dutch government will be present at the commemoration. From now on a Dutch Minister or State Secretary will attend the commemoration every five years, RTL Nieuws reports.
Turkish media sources are targeting five Dutch parliamentarians with a Turkish background, calling them traitors after the Tweede Kamer officially recognized the Armenian Genocide. They've also received threats via social media, two of them confirmed to RTL Nieuws. Tweede Kamer president Khadija Arib called this "unacceptable".
Turkey responded harshly to the Dutch Lower House after its recognition of the Turkish mass murder of Armenians in 1915 as a genocide on Thursday 22. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Ankara released a statement where he pointed out that the Chambers's step is inappropriate for a country "that looked the other way during the genocide in Srebrenica".
A member of the Dutch cabinet will attend the commemoration of the Armenian genocide in Yerevan in April. But that does not mean that the government is making a statement about whether what happened in 1915 was or was not a genocide, Minister Sigrid Kaag of Foreign Affairs said in the Tweede Kamer on Thursday, NOS reports.
Minister Sigrid Kaag of Foreign Affairs respects and appreciates the Tweede Kamer's "enthusiasm" to recognize the Armenian genocide, but she will not comment on the government's stance on "the issue of the Armenian genocide" until she's debated the matter with parliament next week, NOS reports.
A majority in the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of Dutch parliament, approved two motions regarding the Armenian genocide of 1915 on Thursday. One states that the Tweede Kamer "recognizes the Armenian genocide", the other that a Dutch Minister or State Secretary should attend the commemoration of this genocide in Armenia in April. This decision is expected to further sour the relationship between Turkey and the Netherlands, ANP reports.
Both motions were submitted by ChristenUnie parliamentarian Joel Voordewind. All four coalition parties supported the motions.
The government will very likely stick to its earlier decision not to send ministers to the commemoration of the Armenian genocide on Friday.
Hundreds of people gathered on the Spuiplein in The Hague on Saturday to commemorate the Armenian genocide which started almost 100 years ago.
The Vrije Universiteit (VU) in Amsterdam wants to cancel the Armenian Genocide debate organized for Friday, April 24th, now that Justin McCarthy, considered a genocide denier, is the only speaker, The Post Online reports.
