Secretary General of the Council of Europe has “no position” on the Armenian Genocide.

Secretary General of the Council of Europe Turban Jagland stated that he had no position on the issue of the Armenian Genocide and legislative initiatives on criminalization of its denial.

Turban Jagland said this answering the question of the member of the Armenian delegation in PACE Naira Zohrabyan, Mediamax reports.

“As Secretary General of the Council of Europe, I do not have a position on this. I do not want to comment, on behalf of the entire Organization and of course the member countries, on the discussion in France. But in my past capacities as Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Norway, and as Speaker of the Parliament and Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee there, I always took the stand that history is for historians and history books, and I was not in favor of taking political decisions on historical events. I note that the Turkish Government has proposed to set up a commission composed of historians in order to come forward with its views on this issue, and that it will accept the recommendations from such a commission. I do not have a stance on that either. It is up to national parliaments and governments to take a position on it. It has not been discussed anywhere in the Council of Europe”, stated the Secretary General of the Council of Europe.