There are forces in Bulgaria that prevent parliament from honoring innocent victims on April 24 – Vardanush Topakbashyan

Vardanush Topakbashyan, co-chair of the Armenian National Committee of Bulgaria and editor-in-chief of the Yerevan newspaper, told Alpha News about the commemoration of the Armenian Genocide in the Bulgarian parliament and the problems that arose in connection with it.

“We have good relations with the Turks living in Bulgaria. Of course, I am talking about human relations, not political relations, that is a different area. The Turkish party that is active in our parliament always creates obstacles when we express the desire to mark April 24 in parliament with respect. They complain, make speeches, and leave the parliamentary session. We had serious problems, especially on the eve of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide in 2015. They prevented the adoption of a resolution showing that Bulgaria also recognizes the Armenian Genocide. Of course, everything ended successfully, and in 2015 the parliament adopted a similar resolution,” she said.

According to Vardanush Topakbashyan, some political forces in the Bulgarian parliament are against the decision to pay tribute to the victims on the anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.

“I regret to note that there are political forces that are trying to ensure that this day is not commemorated in parliament. We were outraged when the current Prime Minister of Bulgaria, who was the speaker of parliament last year, was the only one who did not stand up and remained sitting in his chair when 4-5 parties proposed to honor Genocide Day with a minute of silence. Of course, there were no Turks in the hall then, but he did not stand up. We expressed our complaint. In short, these are the problems that we have,” Vardanush Topakbashyan noted.