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Australian parliamentary leader responds to Turkish condemnation of
Genocide recognition
http://www.armradio.am/en/2013/05/14/australian-parliamentary-leader-responds-to-turkish-condemnation-of-genocide-recognition/
12:58 14.05.2013
Armenian Genocide, Australia, Turkey
On May 10 the Parliament of New South Wales, Australia, unanimously
passed a motion to recognize the Greek, Assyrian and Armenian genocide
perpetrated by Ottoman Turks in World War One. Turkey responded by
condemning the motion and barring Australian legislators from
Gallipoli. The Turkish Consul General sent a letter to the NSW
Parliament in which he condemned the genocide recognition. AINA
reports that the sponsor of the motion, Rev. Hon. Fred Nile, the
Parliamentary Leader and member of the Christian Democratic Party,
responded to the Turkish Consul General's letter as follows:
Dear Sir
As you noted in your correspondence of 6th May 2013, I moved a motion
of recognition of the Genocides of the indigenous Assyrian and
Hellenic peoples of Anatolia, incorporating a re-affirmation of the
1997 recognition of the Genocide of the indigenous Armenian people.
The motion was tabled and carried unanimously, in accordance with
Parliamentary procedure.
Similar motions of a commemorative nature are moved and carried by
members of both Houses of the Parliament of New South Wales on a
regular basis on a wide range of issues, particularly related to human
rights and current affairs.
My intention in moving this motion was NOT to attack or denigrate the
modern State of Turkey which was established by a great Turkish
leader, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who I greatly admire.
These Genocides were carried out by the leaders of the Ottoman Empire,
not the modern State of Turkey which has wonderful relations with
Australia, in spite of the Gallipoli campaign.
In moving this motion, I have drawn on the conclusions reached by the
International Association of Genocide Scholars, the Australian
Institute for Holocaust and Genocide Scholars, and other national and
international scholarly groups. The unanimous opinion is that the
Assyrian, Armenian and Hellenic peoples were victims of genocide in
the 1910s and 1920s.
As noted by Australian jurist Geoffrey Robertson QC in his 2009 study
`Was there an Armenian Genocide?' (attached), Winston Churchill
declared the events to be `an administrative holocaust ... there is no
reasonable doubt that this crime was planned and executed for
political reasons.'
When commemorations and scholarly conferences on the Genocide of the
Armenians are regularly held within the Republic of Turkey, and
Turkish scholars and writers such as Taner Akcam and Orhan Pamuk call
for recognition of the fact of the Genocides, I fail to understand how
the NSW Legislative Council resolution constitutes `sowing the seeds
of hatred' in Australia? Please visit for recent examples:
It is time for Turkey to recognise the historical fact of the Armenian Genocide
Turkey Should Acknowledge The Armenian Genocide
The Genocide Recognition motion has a very strong focus on the
Genocides as part of the Australian national story. As documented in
the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, ANZACs were captured and
imprisoned as far south as the Sinai peninsula, as far east as
Mesopotamia (modern Iraq) as well as across Anatolia. Visit here for
more details.
The archives of the Australian War Memorial in Canberra have written
and photographic evidence that ANZACs rescued Armenians and Assyrians
in Persia (Iran) and Mesopotamia (Iraq), as well as during the
Palestine Campaign. Many of these ANZACs later became involved in an
international humanitarian relief effort on behalf of the survivors
for over a decade.
The events of the Assyrian, Armenian, and Hellenic Genocides were
documented by the Australian media from early 1914 (before World War
One began), throughout the war and well into the 1920s (National
Library of Australia). I also refer you to a recent study by Dr John
Williams of the University of Tasmania, published in the April 2013
issue of Quadrant magazine: The Ethnic Cleansing of Greeks from
Gallipoli, April 1915.
As the Armenian National Archives were only formed in 1923, when the
Genocides were almost over, a `joint commission of history' between
the Republics of Armenia and Turkey would have little to discuss
(National Archives of Armenia) The archives relevant to the Genocides
of the Armenians, Assyrians and Hellenes are in Ankara, Constantinople
(Istanbul) and Moscow.
In conclusion, for the Christian Democratic Party, as for the entire
Parliament of New South Wales, recognition of the Genocides of the
indigenous Assyrian, Armenian and Hellenic peoples of the Ottoman
Empire is not simply a matter of history. As the effects of the
Genocides continue to this day, it is an issue of international law
and human rights and I will continue to advocate such issues at every
opportunity.
`Let justice be done, souls consoled, broken hearts mended, nations
reconciled and honour given to all those who perished so needlessly
during a dark hour in mankind's recent history'.
Yours sincerely,
Rev. Hon. Fred Nile
Genocide recognition
http://www.armradio.am/en/2013/05/14/australian-parliamentary-leader-responds-to-turkish-condemnation-of-genocide-recognition/
12:58 14.05.2013
Armenian Genocide, Australia, Turkey
On May 10 the Parliament of New South Wales, Australia, unanimously
passed a motion to recognize the Greek, Assyrian and Armenian genocide
perpetrated by Ottoman Turks in World War One. Turkey responded by
condemning the motion and barring Australian legislators from
Gallipoli. The Turkish Consul General sent a letter to the NSW
Parliament in which he condemned the genocide recognition. AINA
reports that the sponsor of the motion, Rev. Hon. Fred Nile, the
Parliamentary Leader and member of the Christian Democratic Party,
responded to the Turkish Consul General's letter as follows:
Dear Sir
As you noted in your correspondence of 6th May 2013, I moved a motion
of recognition of the Genocides of the indigenous Assyrian and
Hellenic peoples of Anatolia, incorporating a re-affirmation of the
1997 recognition of the Genocide of the indigenous Armenian people.
The motion was tabled and carried unanimously, in accordance with
Parliamentary procedure.
Similar motions of a commemorative nature are moved and carried by
members of both Houses of the Parliament of New South Wales on a
regular basis on a wide range of issues, particularly related to human
rights and current affairs.
My intention in moving this motion was NOT to attack or denigrate the
modern State of Turkey which was established by a great Turkish
leader, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who I greatly admire.
These Genocides were carried out by the leaders of the Ottoman Empire,
not the modern State of Turkey which has wonderful relations with
Australia, in spite of the Gallipoli campaign.
In moving this motion, I have drawn on the conclusions reached by the
International Association of Genocide Scholars, the Australian
Institute for Holocaust and Genocide Scholars, and other national and
international scholarly groups. The unanimous opinion is that the
Assyrian, Armenian and Hellenic peoples were victims of genocide in
the 1910s and 1920s.
As noted by Australian jurist Geoffrey Robertson QC in his 2009 study
`Was there an Armenian Genocide?' (attached), Winston Churchill
declared the events to be `an administrative holocaust ... there is no
reasonable doubt that this crime was planned and executed for
political reasons.'
When commemorations and scholarly conferences on the Genocide of the
Armenians are regularly held within the Republic of Turkey, and
Turkish scholars and writers such as Taner Akcam and Orhan Pamuk call
for recognition of the fact of the Genocides, I fail to understand how
the NSW Legislative Council resolution constitutes `sowing the seeds
of hatred' in Australia? Please visit for recent examples:
It is time for Turkey to recognise the historical fact of the Armenian Genocide
Turkey Should Acknowledge The Armenian Genocide
The Genocide Recognition motion has a very strong focus on the
Genocides as part of the Australian national story. As documented in
the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, ANZACs were captured and
imprisoned as far south as the Sinai peninsula, as far east as
Mesopotamia (modern Iraq) as well as across Anatolia. Visit here for
more details.
The archives of the Australian War Memorial in Canberra have written
and photographic evidence that ANZACs rescued Armenians and Assyrians
in Persia (Iran) and Mesopotamia (Iraq), as well as during the
Palestine Campaign. Many of these ANZACs later became involved in an
international humanitarian relief effort on behalf of the survivors
for over a decade.
The events of the Assyrian, Armenian, and Hellenic Genocides were
documented by the Australian media from early 1914 (before World War
One began), throughout the war and well into the 1920s (National
Library of Australia). I also refer you to a recent study by Dr John
Williams of the University of Tasmania, published in the April 2013
issue of Quadrant magazine: The Ethnic Cleansing of Greeks from
Gallipoli, April 1915.
As the Armenian National Archives were only formed in 1923, when the
Genocides were almost over, a `joint commission of history' between
the Republics of Armenia and Turkey would have little to discuss
(National Archives of Armenia) The archives relevant to the Genocides
of the Armenians, Assyrians and Hellenes are in Ankara, Constantinople
(Istanbul) and Moscow.
In conclusion, for the Christian Democratic Party, as for the entire
Parliament of New South Wales, recognition of the Genocides of the
indigenous Assyrian, Armenian and Hellenic peoples of the Ottoman
Empire is not simply a matter of history. As the effects of the
Genocides continue to this day, it is an issue of international law
and human rights and I will continue to advocate such issues at every
opportunity.
`Let justice be done, souls consoled, broken hearts mended, nations
reconciled and honour given to all those who perished so needlessly
during a dark hour in mankind's recent history'.
Yours sincerely,
Rev. Hon. Fred Nile