AINA News
Dutch Political Party Asks Government to Recognize Assyrian Genocide of 1915
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The Hague (AINA) -- The Party for Freedom (Partij voor de Vrijheid, PVV), one of the largest political parties in Holland, has asked the Dutch government to recognize the Assyrian Genocide of World War One, which was perpetrated by the Ottoman Turkish government between 1915 and 1918 in South-Eastern Turkey. The genocide claimed the lives of 750,000 Assyrians (75%), as well as 1.5 million Armenians and 500,000 Greeks.

The request to recognize the genocide (called Seyfo in Assyrian) was made during a committee meeting of the Dutch government in The Hague regarding the St. Gabriel Assyrian monastery in South-Eastern Turkey, which three days ago lost a long running legal battle with the Turkish state. The court confiscated land belonging to the monastery and awarded it to the Turkish state (AINA 6-29-2012).

Wim Kortenoeven, a member of Parliament representing the PVV party (well known for its leader Geert Wilders), pleaded for the recognition of the Assyrian genocide. Mr. Kortenoeven said the genocide of 750,000 Assyrian Christians, who were systematically and brutally murdered under the command of the Young Turks, should be recognized. This is the first time the issue of recognition has been brought before the Dutch parliament.

The news regarding the bill was welcomed by the grandchildren of the survivors of the Assyrian Genocide. Nearly 30,000 Assyrians from Turkey live in the Netherlands, most of whom having fled Turkey in the past thirty years.



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