The Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) Central Executive Board has made a written statement regarding the anniversary of the Armenian Genocide and called on Turkey to recognise the atrocity, reports the Mesopotamia News Agency.

“On 24 April 1915, 250 Armenian intellectuals and politicians were taken from their homes by Teşkilat-ı Mahsusa (Special Organisation), an Organisation of the Committee of Union and Progress [İttihat ve Terakki Cemiyeti], and then forced into exile and massacred,” stated the HDP. “This date marks the day when the Armenian Genocide started. The Armenian people were forced to leave their homeland, where they had lived for millennia.”

The HDP noted that the population of Christians decreased in Anatolia after the massacre and also that the properties of these Christian communities were seized.

The statement continued: “The Greek, Syriac, Chaldean, Kurdish, Alevi and Yazidi peoples faced the same massacre politics and the Armenian Genocide symbolises this policy of elimination. The great crime went unpunished, discrimination and hate crimes became the common policy of Turkey. First of all, the Armenian Genocide, as a humanitarian, legal and social issue, needs to be faced and accepted today.”

The statement concluded: “Turkey has not faced the Armenian Genocide for 106 years. The genocide occurred in these lands and justice must be served here. On its 106th anniversary, we share the sorrow as we remember the genocide of our people and we commemorate with respect those who have fallen.”