Balgarianovinite.com One hundred and eleven years ago on Friday, the Ottoman Empire launched a mass extermination of Armenians which continued until 1922. The April 24, 1915 decision was prompted by enemy activity Armenians were suspected to plan and conduct against the Ottoman government. The commission of the genocide is substantiated by undeniable historic facts and authentic documents.
Most of the targeted Armenians were arrested and later on apparently executed or deported. Approximately a million and a half of them were killed during that period, as Ottoman officials were concerned about a possible alliance of Armenian Christians with Russia, which opposed the Ottoman Empire in World War One.
On April 24, 2015, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the genocide, the Bulgarian Parliament passed a resolution recognizing the mass extermination of Armenians and declaring the date a Victims Remembrance Day. The vote was 157 in favour and 36 against.
According to the results of an opinion poll conducted by the Gallup International Balkan commissioned by the Armenian Embassy in Bulgaria, the majority of Bulgarians were not aware of the Armenians’ genocide, while 39% of the 1,011 respondents have heard of the tragic event.
Following is the original news item in English by which BTA’s External Service covered the adoption of the resolution:
“116 POLITICS – PARLIAMENT – ARMENIANS – RESOLUTION amplified”Parliament Passes Resolution on Armenians’ Mass Extermination in Ottoman Empire in 1915-1922 Period
Sofia, April 24 (BTA) – Bulgaria’s Parliament Friday passed a resolution recognizing the mass extermination of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire in the 1915-1922 period. The vote was 157 in favour and 36 against.
‘The extermination of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire in 1915-1922 is identified by undeniable historic facts and authentic documents,’ the resolution points out. ‘According to the Bulgarian people’s humane traditions and the obligations assumed under the ratification of the UN instruments, Bulgaria draws a distinction between the historical legacy of the Ottoman Empire and the legacy of the Republic of Turkey and welcomes a dialogue between Turkey and Armenia on a conclusive commitment to the historic truth,’ the resolution reads.The draft resolution on recognition of the Armenian genocide was moved by the Ataka Parliamentary Group and was rephrased on motions by Tsveta Karayancheva MP of GERB and Krassimira Kovachka MP of the Bulgarian Democratic Centre. Karayancheva moved that the word ‘genocide’ be replaced by the expression ‘mass extermination’ On Kovachka’s motion, two passages were dropped from the reasoning to the draft: “The act entirely satisfies the essential elements of the United Nations enacting instruments: the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1948) and the Convention on the Non-Applicability of Statutory Limitations to War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity (1968)” and “sharing the position of the European Parliament in support of this dialogue”. Ataka objected to these revisions.The resolution declared April 24 a Victims Remembrance Day.
After the vote, Parliament observed a minute of silence in commemoration of the Armenian victims. The attending MPs of the Movement of Rights and Freedoms (MRF) walked out of the debating chamber.
Representatives of the Turkish Embassy in Sofia watched the debate from the visitors’ gallery.
Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Boyko Borissov said that he hopes that the political forces will recognize the Armenians’ mass extermination by consensus. He made this statement to reporters in Parliament, emerging from consultations with the GERB Parliamentary Group and Reformist Bloc Co-floor Leader Radan Kanev at the office of National Assembly Chair Tsetska Tsacheva.Borissov specified that GERB had proposed a recognition of the Armenians’ mass extermination. ‘I said it very clearly: this is the Bulgarian word or the Bulgarian words, or the Bulgarian idiom for ‘genocide,’ the PM pointed out.He confirmed the clear distinction between the Ottoman Empire and present-day Turkey.
Yerevan defines as ‘genocide’ the killing of a little over 1.5 million Armenians by Turkish troops during systematic extermination operations in the 1915-1923 period. Ankara denies this. According to the official position of the Turkish authorities, killing people was not deliberately sought. Turkey admits to the death of not more than 500,000 people, who fell victim to sporadic armed groups and starvation.
The Armenian genocide has been recognized by a number of countries, including Russia, France, Italy, Germany and Uruguay. It was recently recognized by Pope Francis and the European Parliament.
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Dessislav Choukolov MP of Ataka told journalists in Parliament commented that the dropping of the reference to UN conventions and the mention of genocide from the resolution denies the members of the Armenian community the right to assert their interests through the courts. ‘We have no right to give way to pressure,’ he said. ‘Representatives of the Turkish Embassy, admitted to the building on MRF passes, were present in the National Assembly visitors’ gallery today. Bulgaria is not a sovereign State. Bulgaria acts under pressure from the Turkish side and cannot take sovereign decisions like the one that Ataka moved,’ the MP commented. ‘Let’s hope that some day the Bulgarian National Assembly will adopt a resolution recognizing that we Bulgarians were subjected to genocide during the five-century Turkish yoke,’ he added.
Valeri Simeonov MP of the Patriotic Front said that the Bulgarian people empathizes with the Armenians’ tragedy and provided refuge and helped the rescue of over 70,000 Armenians fleeing annihilation in the Ottoman Empire. In his opinion, the passage of a resolution on the Armenian genocide is of enormous importance for Bulgaria.
Valeri Zhablyanov MP of BSP-Left Bulgaria described ‘the extermination of a huge part of the Armenian people” as “a barbarous act of a crumbling empire like the Ottoman one’. He argued that recognizing the genocide is a condition for Bulgaria’s entry into the 21st century.
‘We must be aware of where we are on the map,’ Reformist Bloc Co-floor Leader Radan Kanev said. In his words, ‘silence cannot heal the effects of violence’. ‘Admitting the truth may heal wounds that are even more severe than our own historical wounds,’ he observed.
MRF leader Lyutvi Mestan said that his parliamentary group will vote against the draft resolution not because it denies the need of a common evaluation of these events but because ‘it is of the opinion that progress towards such an evaluation may be impeded by a wrong intervention by the Bulgarian Parliament’. According to Mestan, within the meaning of the Constitution, National Assembly resolutions have the force of a law and are not a mere expression of a political position. ‘Bulgaria’s Parliament is the only one that contemplates passing a resolution, whereas most other national parliaments came up with declarations,’ he argued. ‘You can’t legislate in respect of the past,’ he pointed out, adding that ‘historical events can be given a political assessment but cannot be turned into a legal standard’.
***’Today was a great day for the historic truth about what happened 100 years ago,’ Armenian Bulgarian composer Haygashod Agasyan told journalists in Parliament. ‘All my compatriots who were present here are satisfied, even though the word “genocide” was replaced by “mass extermination”. I would like to express gratitude for what Bulgaria did for our forefathers and received nearly 50,000 Armenians at that time,’ Agasyan said. Commenting on the behaviour of the MRF MPs, who walked out of the debating chamber while the rest of the lawmakers observed a minute of silence for the Armenian victims in the Ottoman Empire, Agasyan asked: ‘Are they Bulgarian MP, or are they MPs of a country neighbouring on us, and whose cause do they champion?’ PK/LG” April 24, 2015: Bulgaria Recognizes Armenian Genocide in Ottoman Empire 2026 THE NEWS FROM BULGARIA – NEWS AGENCY 2009-2025 2026-04-24 10:12:11 Latest news World news Country news Most important news latest news most important latest of the day Justice Petar Nizamov Feathers Petar Nizamov- Feathers Justice bg iustitia.bg iustitia iusticia usticia investigation Burgas Bulgaria news news of the last hour news of the day news of today Bulgaria news The news from Bulgaria blitz news top news most important most commented latest news Boyko Borisov news weather coronavirus news news weather facebook youtube facebook instagram news today news of the last minutes news today today news news bg news leading news hot news bg news site for news all news news bg news of the last hour latest latest news bg news of today news today news today news of the last hour latest news today news bg news news 24 hours news vesti bg novini news world bird bg bivol bg bivol trud bg novini latest news today novinite bg news hello bulgaria political party coat of arms delyan peevski scandalous Bulgarian National Television Free Europe Television scandal exclusive live tv live right now tv tv online tv program bg live now tv news online tv online live court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas district court Burgas appellate court Burgas prosecutor Burgas prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev Prosecutor Geshev Tsatsarov Ministry of Internal Affairs Burgas ODMR Burgas ODPR Burgas police Burgas district police Burgas prosecutor Tsatsarov SGS cases Varna court chairman of the SGS court decisions on civil cases decisions on cases Plovdiv court decision of the court decisions cases Varna court criminal cases district district court decisions work in the court SGS chairman of the SGS judges Sofia court post judges Plovdiv court Plovdiv judges Plovdiv Supreme Court Inspectorate Supreme Court Supreme Judicial Council lawyer lawyer criminal cases lawyer civil cases lawyer marriage cases lawyer administrative criminal law criminal process civil law civil process administrative law constitutional law