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Turkey Threatens To Ban Australian Politicians From Gallipoli

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  • Turkey Threatens To Ban Australian Politicians From Gallipoli

    TURKEY THREATENS TO BAN AUSTRALIAN POLITICIANS FROM GALLIPOLI

    The Diplomat
    Sept 4 2013

    September 04, 2013
    By Luke Hunt

    A spat over the use of the word "genocide" in NSW threatens the
    centenary of the landings.

    Gallipoli, Turkey - A diplomatic row between Turkey and politicians
    from the Australian state of New South Wales is threatening the
    commemorations for the 100th anniversary of the Gallipoli landings,
    which resulted in the deaths of more than 130,000 soldiers.

    The dispute erupted after the NSW Parliament passed a motion
    recognizing an alleged Armenian genocide by the Turks, which began
    around the same time as Australian, New Zealand, Indian, British and
    French forces began their campaign to seize control of the Dardanelles.

    At the time, Turkey was in a state of upheaval amid ethnic wars and
    the breakdown of the Ottoman Empire, which would eventually lead to
    the creation of modern-day Turkey in 1923.

    Turkish historian Kenan Celik says the facts that ethnic cleansing
    and massacres took place was not in dispute, but the use of the word
    "genocide"-primarily a post World War II term indicating the deliberate
    and systematic destruction of an ethnic group-remains hotly contested.

    "This whole region was lawless for more than 10 years. Killings,
    looting, rape and massacres were common and there was no organized
    government. So it's wrong to say it was genocide," he said.

    More than 20 countries have recognized the slaughter of up to 1.5
    million Armenians as genocide, alongside the slaughter of Greeks and
    Assyrians. In Australia, Christian campaigner and MP in the NSW Upper
    House Fred Nile was behind the campaign, arguing the Armenians have
    no time for arguments about definitions or the sensitivities of the
    modern Turkish state.

    "(The Ottoman Turks) just eliminated people systematically-community
    by community, village by village," Nile told Australian radio. "In
    fact it's interesting that when Adolf Hitler planned the genocide of
    the Jews there were some questions asked and he said himself 'Don't
    worry, who remembers the Armenian genocide?' Who remembers it?"

    The motion was unanimously passed in both houses of the NSW Parliament
    and came after the Fairfield local council in Sydney's Western suburbs
    approved construction of a memorial to the alleged Assyrian genocide,
    described by one Turkish official as "very offensive." Nile along with
    some historians have also used eyewitness reports from Australian
    and New Zealand prisoners of war who, while interned, witnessed the
    forced evictions of Armenian villages.

    The response from Turkey's hardline Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan to
    Nile's outbursts has been predictably harsh.

    His government is threatening to ban all members of the NSW Parliament
    from attending the centenary commemorations at Gallipoli and nearby
    Canakkale, which holds a special place in the collective conscience
    of Australians, for whom a pilgrimage to Gallipoli is widely seen as
    rites of passage. Thousands make the trip each year, many attending
    the dawn service on April 25, the day the first troops landed.

    Erdogan, whose Islamic credentials are a match for Nile's Christian
    fundamentalism, is ignoring calls on his government to separate the
    Gallipoli commemorations from arguments over whether the slaughter of
    Armenians should be declared a genocide. The two issues have little
    in common.

    "These persons who try to damage the spirit of Canakkale/Gallipoli
    will also not have their place in the Canakkale ceremonies where we
    commemorate our sons lying side by side in our soil," Turkish foreign
    minister Ahmet Davutoglu said. "We announce to the public that we
    will not forgive those who are behind these decisions and that we
    don't want to see them in Canakkale anymore."

    http://thediplomat.com/2013/09/04/turkey-threatens-to-ban-australian-politicians-from-gallipoli/



    From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
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