Bad news from Spain disappoints Yerevan

/By AzerNews/

By Mushvig Mehdiyev

The Spanish adventure of the so-called "Armenian genocide" has ended in disillusionment after Spain's parliament said NO to the bill which seeks to recognize 1915 events as a "genocide".

Spain's upper parliament has rejected a bill to recognize Armenian claims regarding the 1915 events, according to the Turkish Anadolu agency.

The Spanish Senate waived on May 13 the proposal raised by Entesa, a political group active in the Catalonian region, with 130 votes against and 14 in favor, along with 68 abstentions.

Legislator from the ruling People's Party, Jose Maria Chiquillo assessed the parliament's decision positively, saying "we as the parliament cannot introduce ourselves as historians or a court."

"Genocide is not a simple word. It is a historical and legal issue," Chiquillo commented on the bill that calls for the "Armenian genocide" recognition.

The voting process saw unanimous negative votes from the ruling party, all the while the main opposition parties including the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party, the Catalonian Nationalist Coalition Convergence, the Union and others emerged as abstainers.

Following the Spanish parliament's refusal of the "genocide" bill, Turkey's Ambassador to Madrid, Omer Onhon, said it was important for Spain to show an "unbiased approach" towards the issue.

"I hope this sets an example for other European Union states to follow," he said.

Many Armenian scholars these days argue that what happened to their cognates back in 1915 under the Ottoman Empire was a "mass murder" which constitutes a "genocide".

Modern Turkey today is taking a very different approach to the events of 1915. Ankara's top approach towards the events is to focus on the true nature of what happened a hundred years ago.

Turkish officials say that for understanding clearly what happened in 1915, it is needed to go back, probably to the middle of 19th century, and try to dig out historical archives to establish just what happened during the Ottoman Empire - what were the major actors of the time, how nationalist tendencies came into play and how the Ottoman Empire was being dismembered. An investigation into the role Armenians played in the Ottoman Empire during those events is also important, believes Ankara.

Yerevan, in turn, year on year exerts more and more efforts to achieve international recognition and condemnation of its "genocide" claims instead of supporting Ankara's invitation for a historical research. Nonetheless, leading world powers including the U.S., the UK, Israel and others have abstained to join the "genocide" sympathizers.