WELLINGTON: The Armenian National Committee of New Zealand (ANC-NZ) has thanked New Zealand Young Labour, who recently co-signed a statement recognising the legitimacy of the Treaty of Sevres and calling on Turkey “to begin the process of eliminating the consequences of the Armenian Genocide by initiating the restoration of the rights of the Armenian people”.

The governing New Zealand Labour Party’s youth wing joined colleagues from the International Union of Socialist Youth (IUSY) – representing countries that signed the Treaty of Sevres 100 years ago – to reaffirm solidarity for “the only international legal document which provides for just reparations of the Armenian Genocide and which was signed between principle allied powers and Turkey following World War I during the Paris Peace Conference in 1920”.

“We welcome New Zealand Young Labour’s support of the joint statement supporting the ratification of the articles contained within the Treaty of Sevres,” said ANC-NZ Chair, Hoory Yeldizian.

“We are pleased a major New Zealand political party’s youth organisation was able to be part of this historic declaration marking the milestone centenary of the signing of the Treaty of Sevres.”

Yeldizian added: “We urge New Zealand’s governing Labour Party to draw inspiration from their youth and lead our country to national recognition of the Armenian, Assyrian and Greek Genocides.”

The Treaty of Sevres was signed by the Principal Allied Powers and the Republic of Turkey following World War I and was designed to break up the Ottoman Empire. It included reparations for Armenia emanating from the Armenian Genocide, which was committed by Ottoman Turkey during World War I.

New Zealand Young Labour joined 17 other IUSY member organisations from countries that had previously signed the document, including from Armenia, Turkey, France, Canada, Italy, Greece, among others.