The central board of Uruguay's national administration for public education declared the first genocide of the 20th century perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire "an issue of special interest" in 2015, the year when the 100th anniversary of this crime against humanity is marked, according to the ЂmenianGenocide100.org. The decision was made due to the motion submitted by the Armenian Genocide Centennial commission claiming to declare the Armenian Genocide a topic of special interest and to include it in the academic curriculum of 2015, the website of the National administration for public education reports.
Furthermore, the central board also discussed the declaration by the joint parliamentary committee of Mercosur (a sub- regional bloc comprising Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela and associate countries like Chile, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru) to recognize the Armenian Genocide. The declaration was passed on November 17, 2007.
Uruguay was the first country to recognize the Armenian Genocide. Genocide of Armenians has been recognized by 43 United States as well as by 21 countries, including Canada, Argentina, Switzerland, Uruguay, Russia, Belgium, France, Poland, Slovakia, the Netherlands, Greece, Cyprus, Vatican, Sweden, Lithuania.. The European Parliament passed a resolution recognizing the fact of Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Turkey on June 18 1987 and demanded the Council of Europe to exert pressure on Turkey in order that country recognizes the Armenian Genocide. Turkey still denies the genocide of 1,5 million Armenians in 1915-1923.