The European Parliament’s April 15 resolution on the Armenian Genocide Centennial was worked out as a result of the cooperation of Mission of the Republic of Armenia to European Union and European Armenian Federation for Justice and Democracy.

In his exclusive interview to Mediamax, Communications and PR Officer at European Armenian Federation for Justice and Democracy (EAFJD), Bedo Demirdjian, talked about the elaboration of the resolution, its adoption and opposition of the Turkish lobby.

- Mr. Demirdjian, what was particularly done for the adoption of the resolution?

- A few months ago, EAFJD, our office, met with a representative of the office of the EP President Martin Schulz presenting the importance of the Armenian Genocide Centennial for all the Armenians and the need for adoption of the resolution acknowledging and supporting justice toward Armenians. We're happy to say that our request was assessed positively by the EP President's office. We also turned to political groups of the EP and all of them accepted our proposal. It's important to note that the whole work was done owing to the joint efforts of our office and Armenian Embassy to Belgium. As always, EAFJD also turned to the regional offices of Hay Dat across Europe so as they would request the MPs from their countries to back the adoption of the resolution.

The draft of the resolution was elaborated by the member of the Liberal Faction, French MP Jean-Marie Cavada after which each group drafted their version. We reformed them and advanced our proposals which were mostly accepted and a consensus was reached around the final text of the document. Consequently, we had the positive vote on Wednesday and adoption of the resolution including only 2 reforms after the mass served by Pope Francis on April 12.

- What opposition did the Turkish lobby exercise against the resolution?

- We didn't evidence special opposition. It was more of a noise than real opposition. There was pressure from Turkey, of course, in form of the statements and calls by the government and parliament. However, they didn't pose any hindrance to the adoption of the resolution. And after it, we evidenced statements both from Ankara and Baku.

- Was the adoption of the resolution faced with resistance within European political parties?

-The resolution didn't face any resistance. It was evidenced by the adoption of the resolution with overwhelming majority of votes from all the factions, statements made by dozens of MPs on the Armenian Genocide as well as words of support to the Armenians.

- What role will the adoption of the resolution play in terms of Armenian Genocide acknowledgement process?

- We're sure that the resolution will exert a large positive impact on the EU member states, especially the ones which haven't officially recognized the fact of the Armenian Genocide yet. It will be a new impetus to the process of the Genocide recognition which was temporarily impeded due to the notorious Armenia-Turkey Protocols. Several countries are most likely to adopt similar resolutions in near future.

It should be noted that the resolution will reconfirm the 1987 EP resolution as well as the EP's Annual Report on Human Rights which calls for the states, European Commission and EU Council to officially recognize the Armenian Genocide. Based on the resolution, we will be able to succeed in the works of recognition and condemnation of the Armenian Genocide.

Yekaterina Poghosyan talked to Bedo Demirdjian.