TURKEY BANS NSW MPS FROM GALLIPOLI SERVICE
Courier Mail
Aug 21 2013
From: AAP
August 21, 2013 10:35PM
TURKEY warns some NSW MPs won't not be welcome at the Gallipoli service
after state parliament officially recognised the Ottoman genocide of
the Armenians earlier in the year.
The NSW legislative council in May passed a motion calling for the
official recognition of the Assyrian, Armenian and Greek genocides.
Turkey strongly condemned the move and said the motion was not
compatible with historic facts.
"Although the solid friendly relations existing between the peoples of
Turkey and Australia will not deteriorate because of this unilateral
decision ... its negative repercussions are nonetheless inevitable,"
Turkey's foreign ministry said in May, which ABC television reported
on Wednesday.
The proponents of such initiatives would "doubtlessly be deprived of
the hospitality and friendship that we will never withhold from the
people of Australia", the ministry warned.
"These persons who try to damage the spirit of Canakkale/Gallipoli
will also not have their place in the Canakkale ceremonies where we
commemorate together our sons lying side by side in our soil," it said.
Turkish consul-general Gulseren Celik was asked whether the statement
meant that Premier Barry O'Farrell and other NSW MPs would be denied
visas to attend the Gallipoli service.
"Yes," she told ABC television.
http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/breaking-news/turkey-bans-nsw-mps-from-gallipoli-service/story-fnihsfrf-1226701621305
Courier Mail
Aug 21 2013
From: AAP
August 21, 2013 10:35PM
TURKEY warns some NSW MPs won't not be welcome at the Gallipoli service
after state parliament officially recognised the Ottoman genocide of
the Armenians earlier in the year.
The NSW legislative council in May passed a motion calling for the
official recognition of the Assyrian, Armenian and Greek genocides.
Turkey strongly condemned the move and said the motion was not
compatible with historic facts.
"Although the solid friendly relations existing between the peoples of
Turkey and Australia will not deteriorate because of this unilateral
decision ... its negative repercussions are nonetheless inevitable,"
Turkey's foreign ministry said in May, which ABC television reported
on Wednesday.
The proponents of such initiatives would "doubtlessly be deprived of
the hospitality and friendship that we will never withhold from the
people of Australia", the ministry warned.
"These persons who try to damage the spirit of Canakkale/Gallipoli
will also not have their place in the Canakkale ceremonies where we
commemorate together our sons lying side by side in our soil," it said.
Turkish consul-general Gulseren Celik was asked whether the statement
meant that Premier Barry O'Farrell and other NSW MPs would be denied
visas to attend the Gallipoli service.
"Yes," she told ABC television.
http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/breaking-news/turkey-bans-nsw-mps-from-gallipoli-service/story-fnihsfrf-1226701621305