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Chamber of Deputies of Chile (the lower house of the Parliament of the country) has adopted a resolution expressing “solidarity to the Armenian nation condemning its Genocide launched in 1915.” The Senate of Chile condemned the Armenian Genocide in 2007, the official website of the Chamber of Deputies of Chile reports. 

Resolution No. 324 received 77 votes in favor, one MP was against it, and three abstained. The resolution reminds that the UN decision of 1985 stated that “a cruel crime was committed on the territory of Armenia under the Ottoman Empire control, and it claims moral reparation from the international community and the Turkish State.” 

The adoption of the resolution condemning the Turkish government was initiated by the MPs Gustavo Hasbún, Joaquín Tuma, Issa Kort, Aldo Cornejo, Marco Antonio Núñez, Joaquín Godoy and Jorge Tarud.

“April 24, 1915 was marked by the launch of a systematic extermination of the Armenian people by the Ottoman Empire, following detentions without trials, disappearing and deaths of hundreds of Armenian intellectuals, writers, composers, artists, community leaders and the entire leadership of the Armenian community of Constantinople, including two Armenian MPs of the Turkish Parliament whose parliamentary immunity was not respected,” the resolution reads.

It is further noted that the Genocide of 1915-1923 caused the death of at least 1,500,000 Armenian citizens of the Ottoman Empire. “This deed deserves to be condemned. It came to be the first ‘ethnic cleansing’ of the 20th century,” the resolution reads.  

The authors of the resolution remind that various international organizations seek the recognition of the Armenian Genocide by the international community. “In 1985, the UN Sub Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities recognized it and characterized the case of Armenians as Genocide.” Many states, as well as the European Parliament, the World Council of Churches and the Permanent Peoples' Tribunal also recognized it, the Chamber of Deputies of Chile representatives say.

“The endorsement of the UN decision of 1985 is Chile’s moral obligation,” the resolution reads reminding that the ties between the governments of Chile and Armenia were established in June 2014 with the visit of the President of Armenia to La Moneda.