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Armenian, Hellenic Communities Focus On Genocide Recognition
June 29, 2009
CANBERRA: Last week, a delegation of the Armenian National Committee of Australia (ANC Australia) met with the Australian Hellenic Council (AHC) in Canberra to discuss the significant shared political concerns of the Armenian-Australian and Helenic-Australian communities.
Having worked together on human rights issues in the past, including genocide recognition, freedom of speech and minority rights, the two public relations committees met with the objective of strengthening their working relationship, synchronising activities and endorsing mutual initiatives.
The meeting was held at the side of ANC Australia and AHC visits to Parliament House, where each organisation presented their respective community’s issues of importance to members of the Australian House of Representatives and the Australian Senate.
ANC Australia Political Relations Officer, Mr. Vache Kahramanian led the ANC Australia delegation through the two-day visit, and said the AHC and ANC Australia have mutual concerns based on a common turbulent modern history.
"ANC Australia and AHC will coordinate activities and work in tandem to urge their respective communities to raise awareness and seek recognition of the Armenian Genocide and the Hellenic Genocide," he said.
"By working together, we present a strengthened united approach to these human rights measures and stand firm in the face of genocide denial."
AHC NSW Secretary, Dr. Panayiotis Diamadis added: "Through recognition of, and education about, past injustices, ANC Australia and the AHC are making their contributions to bringing about an end to the cycle of genocide and its subsequent denial."
Based on the shared political concerns of their communities as survivors of the first genocide of the 20th century, ANC Australia and the AHC have released the following joint statement, outlining their agreement to focus on genocide recognition:
Whereby, Australia is signatory to the UN Genocide Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide and has demonstrated leadership on important international human rights issues, whereby the people of Australia provided food, clothing and shelter to victims of the Armenian Genocide and the Hellenic Genocide as part of a international humanitarian relief effort known as the Near East Relief, and whereby throughout WWI Australian POWs lay witness to the systematic annihilation of the indigenous Armenian and Hellenic peoples in Anatolia from 1915 – 1922; the ANC Australia and the AHC commit to their moral responsibility to seek recognition of the Armenian Genocide and the Hellenic Genocide by the Federal Government of Australia as a measure aimed at preventing similar crimes against humanity from recurring.
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