Tweet
AUSTRALIAN MPS CALL TO RECOGNIZE THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
armradio.am
26.11.2011 13:03
In an unprecedented development, seven Federal Members rose in the
House of Representatives of Australia on November 21, 22 and 23 to
affirm the historical reality of the Armenian, Greek and Assyrian
Genocides and call for Australian recognition of these crimes against
humanity, reported the Armenian National Committee of Australia
(ANC Australia).
MPs Craig Kelly, Malcolm Turnbull, Michael Danby and Joel Fitzgibbon -
new supporters of this fundamental issue of humanity - added their
voices to long-time friends of the Armenian, Greek and Assyrian
communities in MPs John Alexander, Joe Hockey and Paul Fletcher and
paid tribute to the victims of the first genocide of the 20th century.
The speeches coincided with the visit of a delegation of ANC Australia,
the Australian Hellenic Council (AHC) and the Assyrian Universal
Alliance of Australia (AUA) to Canberra to further the cause of
genocide recognition as part of ANC Australia's Advocacy Week 2011.
In his first parliamentary speech on this issue, the Member for Hughes,
Craig Kelly, spoke in detail about the genocidal policies of the
Ottoman Empire against its Armenian, Greek and Assyrian populations.
"The Armenian Genocide and the related Assyrian and Greek Genocides
were the result of a deliberate and systematic campaign against the
Christian minorities of the Ottoman Empire between 1914 and 1923,"
Kelly said.
"Aside from the deaths, Christian minorities of the Ottoman Empire had
their wealth and property confiscated without compensation. Businesses
and farms were lost, and schools, churches, hospitals and monasteries
became the property of the Ottoman Empire."
The Member for Hughes underlined the importance for Australia to
recognize this crime against humanity.
"It is now time for our parliament to join other parliaments around the
world and recognise these genocides for what they were," Kelly stated.
The Member for Wentworth, Malcolm Turnbull, also delivering his first
parliamentary speech on this issue, welcomed the representatives of
ANC Australia, AHC and AUA in the public gallery of the Chamber of
the House of Representatives.
"They are assembled here, as we are, to lament what was one of the
great crimes against humanity, not simply a crime against the Greeks,
the Assyrians and the Armenians but a crime against humanity-the
elimination, the execution, the murder of hundreds of thousands of
millions of people for no reason other than that they were different.
This type of crime, this sort of genocidal crime, is something that
sadly is not unique in our experience," Turnbull said.
The Member for Wentworth reflected on the Ottoman Empire's record
of multiculturalism of which these genocidal crimes constituted
an aberration.
"We lament today great crimes but also the loss of diversity and the
loss of tolerance," Turnbull said.
The Member for Melbourne Ports and Chairman of the Joint Standing
Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade, Michael Danby,
affirmed the historical reality of the Armenian Genocide during a
debate in the House of Representatives on a motion related to the
1995 genocide in Srebrenica.
"... Adolf Hitler, said on 22 August 1939, on the eve of perpetrating
another genocide, 'Who remembers the Armenians?', referring to
the failure of anyone to react to Turkey's genocide of two million
Armenians. It is because he was able to say that in Europe in the
1930s that further tragedies engulfed Europe," said the Member for
Melbourne Ports.
Danby emphasised the need to acknowledge and remember past genocides
in Armenia, Rwanda, Darfur and Srebrenica to prevent such horrible
crimes from recurring.
The Member for Hunter, Joel Fitzgibbon voiced similar sentiments in
his first public statement on this issue.
"We should collectively spend more time recognising that between 1915
and 1923 hundreds of thousands of Armenians had their lives cut short
for no other reason than for their ethnicity," said Fitzgibbon.
"The best and most effective way to heal the wounds carried still by
Armenians today is to recognise and acknowledge both the events of
the past and the motivations behind them. Only then will the global
community collectively be able to offer the Armenian people and others
sufficient empathy. And only then will the international community
be able to genuinely claim an unqualified determination to identify
and eradicate genocide in any and every corner of the globe."
The Member for Bennelong, John Alexander, reaffirmed his support for
the recognition of the Armenian, Greek and Assyrian Genocides during
an adjournment speech on November 21.
Recalling the 1948 United Nations' Convention on the Prevention
and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, Alexander said: "From the
eyewitness accounts of ANZAC soldiers and survivors there is little
doubt that the massacre of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians, one
million Greeks and 750,000 Assyrians fits this definition."
Alexander called upon the Australian government to join the wave of
international recognition of the Armenian, Greek and Assyrian Genocide.
"I urge the government to follow in the footsteps of so many nations
in formally recognising these genocides. The actions of members of
this parliament will help to solidify the global movement to identify
these atrocities for what they are."
The Member for North Sydney, Joe Hockey emphasised the strong
connections between Australian history and the genocide that began
in 1915 during an adjournment speech on November 21.
"Our country has a strong association with the events beginning in
1915. The Ottomans began their genocide of the Armenian people on
24 April 1915-the day before the first Australian soldiers landed at
Anzac Cove-and many Australian soldiers witnessed the tragic events
the Armenian race suffered at the hands of the Ottomans."
Hockey firmly called for an official Australian recognition of this
crime against humanity.
"We as a nation should no longer fail to recognize the truth of
history-truth that was recorded even by the Australian media as
it was occurring, at the beginning of the 20th century-and so I
officially call on our parliament again to recognize the genocide of
the Armenians, Greeks and Assyrians that occurred in Ottoman Turkey
between 1915 and 1923."
The Member for Bradfield, Paul Fletcher once again affirmed the
historical reality of the Armenian Genocide and called for its official
recognition by the Australian government during a constituency speech
on November 22.
"Consistent with the definition of genocide, these deaths took place
with the clear intent of destroying Armenians as an ethnic group."
"Some 20 countries around the world have declared these events as
genocide. These countries include Canada, France and Germany. It is
time that the Australian government also recognised what happened in
the early decades of the last century as genocide," stated Fletcher.
armradio.am
26.11.2011 13:03
In an unprecedented development, seven Federal Members rose in the
House of Representatives of Australia on November 21, 22 and 23 to
affirm the historical reality of the Armenian, Greek and Assyrian
Genocides and call for Australian recognition of these crimes against
humanity, reported the Armenian National Committee of Australia
(ANC Australia).
MPs Craig Kelly, Malcolm Turnbull, Michael Danby and Joel Fitzgibbon -
new supporters of this fundamental issue of humanity - added their
voices to long-time friends of the Armenian, Greek and Assyrian
communities in MPs John Alexander, Joe Hockey and Paul Fletcher and
paid tribute to the victims of the first genocide of the 20th century.
The speeches coincided with the visit of a delegation of ANC Australia,
the Australian Hellenic Council (AHC) and the Assyrian Universal
Alliance of Australia (AUA) to Canberra to further the cause of
genocide recognition as part of ANC Australia's Advocacy Week 2011.
In his first parliamentary speech on this issue, the Member for Hughes,
Craig Kelly, spoke in detail about the genocidal policies of the
Ottoman Empire against its Armenian, Greek and Assyrian populations.
"The Armenian Genocide and the related Assyrian and Greek Genocides
were the result of a deliberate and systematic campaign against the
Christian minorities of the Ottoman Empire between 1914 and 1923,"
Kelly said.
"Aside from the deaths, Christian minorities of the Ottoman Empire had
their wealth and property confiscated without compensation. Businesses
and farms were lost, and schools, churches, hospitals and monasteries
became the property of the Ottoman Empire."
The Member for Hughes underlined the importance for Australia to
recognize this crime against humanity.
"It is now time for our parliament to join other parliaments around the
world and recognise these genocides for what they were," Kelly stated.
The Member for Wentworth, Malcolm Turnbull, also delivering his first
parliamentary speech on this issue, welcomed the representatives of
ANC Australia, AHC and AUA in the public gallery of the Chamber of
the House of Representatives.
"They are assembled here, as we are, to lament what was one of the
great crimes against humanity, not simply a crime against the Greeks,
the Assyrians and the Armenians but a crime against humanity-the
elimination, the execution, the murder of hundreds of thousands of
millions of people for no reason other than that they were different.
This type of crime, this sort of genocidal crime, is something that
sadly is not unique in our experience," Turnbull said.
The Member for Wentworth reflected on the Ottoman Empire's record
of multiculturalism of which these genocidal crimes constituted
an aberration.
"We lament today great crimes but also the loss of diversity and the
loss of tolerance," Turnbull said.
The Member for Melbourne Ports and Chairman of the Joint Standing
Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade, Michael Danby,
affirmed the historical reality of the Armenian Genocide during a
debate in the House of Representatives on a motion related to the
1995 genocide in Srebrenica.
"... Adolf Hitler, said on 22 August 1939, on the eve of perpetrating
another genocide, 'Who remembers the Armenians?', referring to
the failure of anyone to react to Turkey's genocide of two million
Armenians. It is because he was able to say that in Europe in the
1930s that further tragedies engulfed Europe," said the Member for
Melbourne Ports.
Danby emphasised the need to acknowledge and remember past genocides
in Armenia, Rwanda, Darfur and Srebrenica to prevent such horrible
crimes from recurring.
The Member for Hunter, Joel Fitzgibbon voiced similar sentiments in
his first public statement on this issue.
"We should collectively spend more time recognising that between 1915
and 1923 hundreds of thousands of Armenians had their lives cut short
for no other reason than for their ethnicity," said Fitzgibbon.
"The best and most effective way to heal the wounds carried still by
Armenians today is to recognise and acknowledge both the events of
the past and the motivations behind them. Only then will the global
community collectively be able to offer the Armenian people and others
sufficient empathy. And only then will the international community
be able to genuinely claim an unqualified determination to identify
and eradicate genocide in any and every corner of the globe."
The Member for Bennelong, John Alexander, reaffirmed his support for
the recognition of the Armenian, Greek and Assyrian Genocides during
an adjournment speech on November 21.
Recalling the 1948 United Nations' Convention on the Prevention
and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, Alexander said: "From the
eyewitness accounts of ANZAC soldiers and survivors there is little
doubt that the massacre of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians, one
million Greeks and 750,000 Assyrians fits this definition."
Alexander called upon the Australian government to join the wave of
international recognition of the Armenian, Greek and Assyrian Genocide.
"I urge the government to follow in the footsteps of so many nations
in formally recognising these genocides. The actions of members of
this parliament will help to solidify the global movement to identify
these atrocities for what they are."
The Member for North Sydney, Joe Hockey emphasised the strong
connections between Australian history and the genocide that began
in 1915 during an adjournment speech on November 21.
"Our country has a strong association with the events beginning in
1915. The Ottomans began their genocide of the Armenian people on
24 April 1915-the day before the first Australian soldiers landed at
Anzac Cove-and many Australian soldiers witnessed the tragic events
the Armenian race suffered at the hands of the Ottomans."
Hockey firmly called for an official Australian recognition of this
crime against humanity.
"We as a nation should no longer fail to recognize the truth of
history-truth that was recorded even by the Australian media as
it was occurring, at the beginning of the 20th century-and so I
officially call on our parliament again to recognize the genocide of
the Armenians, Greeks and Assyrians that occurred in Ottoman Turkey
between 1915 and 1923."
The Member for Bradfield, Paul Fletcher once again affirmed the
historical reality of the Armenian Genocide and called for its official
recognition by the Australian government during a constituency speech
on November 22.
"Consistent with the definition of genocide, these deaths took place
with the clear intent of destroying Armenians as an ethnic group."
"Some 20 countries around the world have declared these events as
genocide. These countries include Canada, France and Germany. It is
time that the Australian government also recognised what happened in
the early decades of the last century as genocide," stated Fletcher.