Bulgaria: Parliament Rejects Armenian Genocide Declaration
By Ria Novosti
The Bulgarian parliament on Wednesday turned down a declaration recognizing the Ottoman Empire’s genocide against Armenians, the Sofia News Agency reported.
The declaration refers to the deaths of more than 1 million Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire between 1915 and 1917.
It was the fifth time the declaration, initiated on behalf of the far-right Ataka (Attack) party, failed to pass.
Ataka leader Volen Siderov said it was natural for “a patriotic party like his” to recognize the Armenian genocide.
“To hide certain events from your history because they are bad for you as a country is demagogy, in my opinion,” he said.
Lyutvi Mestan, a senior MP from the ethnic Turkish Movement for Rights and Freedoms party, opposed Ataka’s proposal, saying parliament was not an institution to establish historical truths.
Some 1 million Turks live in Bulgaria, constituting the country’s largest ethnic minority. Armenians, though considerably fewer in number, are also among Bulgaria’s significant minorities.
