The Armenian Genocide perpetrated with an organized and systematic plan by the Young Turks is one of the most heinous atrocities of humanity, when one and a half million people were exterminated in a hideous way, among them, young, old, women and children, said the Member of the European Parliament representing Cyprus, Costas Mavrides.

In an interview with Armenpress, Mavrides highlighted European Parliament’s strong position regarding Armenian Genocide, and reaffirmed his commitment to defend the historical truth and justice for the victims as well as the struggle of the Armenian people.

"The institutional denial of Armenian Genocide still today in Turkey, is an extension of the original crime against humanity and, at the same time, an official policy that carries the seed for the repetition of such crimes in the future. Still recently, we have witnessed the ethnic cleansing of the Armenian indigenous inhabitants in Nagorno-Karabakh by Azerbaijan, with the support of Turkey, followed by a cultural genocide of any Christian and Armenian heritage in the area.

Therefore, the Armenian Genocide should not only be discussed as an event of historical memory, but as a lesson for the present and the future. Because the question is not to condemn a genocide or similar crimes after the fact, but how to act to prevent them from being committed,’’ Mavrides said.