The resolution was passed on Wednesday by 382 votes in favor of it with 43 abstentions. Notably, the 43 lawmakers who abstained are members of the centre-right Forza Italia party, led by former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi. Other lower house parties supported the document.
THE LAW IS NOT LEGALLY-BINDING
“With a criminal delay, Italy is finally recognizing one of the most sinister pages in the history of mankind. No economic or diplomatic logic would ever allow us not to state the exact name of the massacre of innocent people. It was a genocide and so it should be written in history textbooks”, Massimiliano Capitanio, the lawmaker from the ruling right-wing Lega party, said.
Italy’s government, which had neither supported nor opposed the measure, will have to follow up on the parliament’s mandate but is not legally obliged to do so.