Dutch Political Party Asks Government to Recognize Assyrian Genocide of 1915

The Hague -- The Party for Freedom (Partij voor de Vrijheid, PVV), one of the largest political parties in Holland, has asked the Dutch government to recognize the Assyrian Genocide of World War One, which was perpetrated by the Ottoman Turkish government between 1915 and 1918 in South-Eastern Turkey. The genocide claimed the lives of 750,000 Assyrians (75%), as well as 1.5 million Armenians and 500,000 Greeks.

The request to recognize the genocide (called Seyfo in Assyrian) was made during a committee meeting of the Dutch government in The Hague regarding the St. Gabriel Assyrian monastery in South-Eastern Turkey, which three days ago lost a long running legal battle with the Turkish state. The court confiscated land belonging to the monastery and awarded it to the Turkish state (AINA 6-29-2012). (...)