MONTEVIDEO (Combined Sources)–Parliament members of Uruguay have initiated a signature collection campaign under a petition appealing to the European Union to urge Turkey to acknowledge its 1915 genocide of Armenia’s. Similar campaigns have also been launched in Argentina–Brazil–and Paraguay.
The action was initiated by deputy of the Uruguayan parliament Lilian Kechichian. All Armenian organizations functioning in Latin America have signed-on in support of the initiative. The Turkish Foreign Ministry has already responded with a note of protest–which says–in part–"The Paraguayan authorities support groundless statemen’s of Armenia’s."
Uruguay was the first nation to officially recognize the Armenian genocide in 1965–while Argentina recognized it in 1985.
On April 24 of this year–Uruguayan President Tabare Vasquez addressed the Armenian community in Montevideo–in unveiling a monument honoring the Armenian genocide victims.