Mauricio Macri, Genocide Recognition Advocate, Elected President of Argentina

BUENOS AIRES (Agencia Prensa Armenia)””On Sunday November 22, the candidate of the Argentine conservative party Cambiemos, Mauricio Macri, was elected president of Argentina by winning a runoff election by three points against Daniel Scioli, the government candidate. Macri has long been a supporter of the Armenian community of Argentina and an advocate for Armenian Genocide recognition in Argentina and internationally.

During his tenure as Chief of Government of the city of Buenos Aires, Mauricio Macri rejected the construction of a bust of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, after complaints made by the Armenian community and a misunderstanding by local officials. At the time, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan called off a visit to the country citing Macri’s decision.

In April 2012, Macri visited Yerevan for the transfer of the World Book Capital, which had been in Buenos Aires in 2011 and was in Yerevan in 2012. Macri visited the Armenian Genocide Museum and stated that, “Buenos Aires has received thousands of Armenian citizens that, with their tireless work, contributed to the development of Argentina and forged our cultural identity as a country.”