ROME (mixed sources) – The Italian parliament’s lower house on April 10 approved a motion calling on the Italian government to “officially recognize the Armenian genocide” and raise the profile of this issue at the international level. The motion was approved with 382 votes in favor, none against and 43 abstentions by MPs from the opposition, center-right Forza Italia party of former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi. Italy’s executive government has not taken a stance on this vote yet.
Armenia welcomed the vote. Meanwhile, Turkey refuses to accept that the deaths of Armenians at the hands of the Ottoman Empire between 1915 and 1917 amounted to genocide. Its foreign ministry condemned the vote, declaring in a statement that “It is not surprising that this motion was drafted by the Lega [Nord] Party, led by Matteo Salvini, who is committed to sabotaging relations between Turkey and Italy.”
