The French Parliament has passed a resolution declaring that “genocide” was perpetrated against the Assyrians and Chaldeans in the last regions of the Ottoman Empire in 1915-1918. The initiative was first presented to the upper house of parliament, the Senate. 

The draft resolution entitled “Recognition of the genocide committed against the Assyrians and Chaldeans in 1915-1918” presented by 76 senators of the right wing “Republican Party”, which is in the majority, was approved by 300 votes, against 2 votes.

The bill calls on the government to “recognize the mass murders, destruction of cultural heritage and deportations committed by the Ottoman authorities against more than 250,000 Assyrians and Chaldeans between 1915 and 1918 as genocide”, “to openly condemn this genocide” and “to proclaim April 24 of each year as the day of the genocide against Armenians, Assyrians and Chaldeans”.

Valerie Boyer, a senator from Marseille and member of the Republican Party, who initiated the resolution, said in her speech to the General Assembly before the vote that “in 1915-1918, 2.5 million Christians living in the territory of the Ottoman Empire were victims of physical, cultural and religious genocide.”