Latvia Officially Recognizes and Condemns the Armenian Genocide

Latvia has officially recognized and condemned the Armenian Genocide. This was announced by Tigran Mkrtchyan, the Armenian ambassador to Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia, on his Facebook page.

"Latvia has finally officially recognized and condemned the Armenian Genocide. Out of the 100 members of the Saeima, 58 voted in favor. What was difficult to imagine years ago has now become a reality. This is the result of years of hard work, where the use of almost all diplomatic tools has been essential, including intensive political communication, parliamentary diplomacy, cultural diplomacy, and the involvement of the community and the Armenian Apostolic Church. All of this, combined with some adjustments in our emphasis over recent years, led to this result," Mkrtchyan wrote.

On April 24, 2020, two forces in the Latvian parliament, which are also members of the ruling coalition, the New Conservative Party and the Development/For! party, had already issued statements acknowledging and condemning the Armenian Genocide. The recognition process began in February 2021, initiated mostly by these forces, as well as representatives of the Harmony party, which resulted in a resolution-declaration presented on April 23. On April 29, the initial version of the resolution was postponed for a week due to objections. The Foreign Affairs Permanent Committee proposed a modified version of the resolution, around which intensive discussions also took place and parallel work was conducted in this direction over the previous two months,” noted Mkrtchyan.

He also presented the translation of the resolution adopted by the Saeima of Latvia: "Recognizing the importance of commemorating the victims of the Armenian Genocide organized by the authorities of the Ottoman Empire, the mass killings, and forced deportations that began on April 24, 1915, with the arrests of the Armenian intellectuals and prominent individuals in the former Constantinople community, considering the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide and the European Parliament's resolution of June 18, 1987, which states that these events constitute genocide according to the Convention, emphasizing that Latvia condemns all crimes against humanity, and that Latvia recognizes its obligation to acknowledge and remember these crimes to prevent their recurrence, recognizing that the actions of the Ottoman authorities led to the expulsion of a significant number of the Armenian people from other parts of the empire, causing numerous deaths due to famine, atrocities, and mass killings."

It condemns the crimes, the killings, and the forced deportations perpetrated by the Ottoman authorities against the Armenian people, honors the memory of all the victims of the Armenian Genocide, pays tribute to all survivors, affirms that open and free discussions about historical issues are inherently linked to the development of a healthy and mature democracy, calls on the international community to evaluate these historical events and look towards the future we wish to build, free from violence and intolerance, a future where human rights are respected and every individual can be free, secure, and safe," states the declaration.