The House of Representatives amended a 2011 bill on genocide denial and crimes against humanity on Thursday, by penalising such acts without prior conviction by an international court, making Cyprus the fourth European country after Switzerland, Slovakia and Greece to criminalise denial of the Armenian Genocide by the Turks in 1915.
The European Parliament also passed a relevant resolution on March 12.
During an early-day session, House President Yiannakis Omirou, who was hosting the Armenian National Assembly Speaker Galoust Sahakyan, called it a historic day, noting that this legislation “allows the parliament to restore, with unanimous decisions and resolutions, historical truths.”
While on an official trip to Armenia last November, Omirou promised his Armenian counterpart that Cyprus would criminalise the denial of the Armenian Genocide.
He also took the extraordinary decision to chair the House Legal Affairs committee meeting on Monday, where the amendment was approved and forward to the plenary session for a vote, after what seemed to be lobbying against the bill by some diplomatic circles.
Daily Simerini had reported a week ago that the Presidency wanted to block the amendment, citing conflict with the Republic’s foreign policy affairs. But reports suggested that the pressure had actually come from some western diplomatic missions in Nicosia, in an effort not to upset Turkey.
Omirou’s intervention helped allay fears from the two leading political parties, ruling DISY and communist AKEL, that criminalising genocide denial could hamper peace talks with the Turkish Cypriots, that may resume after a six-month break. Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades pulled out of the UN-sponsored talks when Turkey sent its exploration vessel, the Barbaros, into the Republic’s Exclusive Economic Zone. Now that the vessel has left Cyprus waters, the government in Nicosia expects UN mediators to help in the resumption of talks, but after a new Turkish Cypriot leadership has been elected in elections on April 27.
The Representative of the Armenian Community in the House of Representatives, Vartkes Mahdessian, welcomed the resolution and said that on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the massacres by Ottoman Turks, the Cyprus parliament made a historic decision unanimously passing a Law making the denial of the Armenian Genocide a criminal offence.
He remarked that in 1975 the Cyprus House of Representatives became the first parliament in Europe and the second in the world, to recognise the Armenian Genocide.
Cyprus recognised the Armenian Genocide in 1975 with a resolution adopted by the Parliament, which was repeated in 1982, whereas in 1990 the Parliament unanimously adopted another resolution which set the 24th of April as the national day to commemorate the Armenian Genocide.
On January 26, 1965, then Foreign Minister and later Speaker of the House and Republic President Spyros Kyprianou, raised the issue of recognition of the Genocide at the UN General Assembly
Meanwhile, DISY sources dismissed the notion, as reported by Simerini, that Omirou and the presidency were at odds over amending the law.
The only reservations the President had was that the government was not consulted on the matter, which pertains to foreign policy.
The Cyprus Mail quoted DISY sources as refuting media reports that MPs had argued in the committee against criminalising denial because it might anger the Turkish Cypriots and Turkey, particularly at this juncture when peace talks may resume.
Under the law, the denial or “flagrant downgrading” of recognised war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, provided the crime has been recognised by an international court, is punishable by up to five years imprisonment and/or a fine of €10,000.
International organisations officially recognising the Armenian Genocide include the European Parliament, the Council of Europe, and the World Council of Churches.
