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Growing calls for Armenian Genocide recognition in Australia

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  • Growing calls for Armenian Genocide recognition in Australia

    Growing calls for Armenian Genocide recognition in Australia

    Friday, 19 March 2010

    The Hon. Joe Hockey MP on Thursday called for Federal Australian recognition of the Armenian Genocide, becoming the third MP to address the Armenian Genocide in Parliament this week, reported the community's peak public affairs body, the Armenian National Committee of Australia (ANC Australia).

    Hockey, part-Armenian and a long-time advocate for Armenian Genocide recognition, added his speech to those made by the Hon. Maxine McKew MP and Mr. Paul Fletcher MP earlier in what has been an unprecedented week of advocacy in Australia.

    Three members of the House of Representatives, representing both major parties, have this week affirmed the historical truth of the Armenian Genocide.

    While paying tribute to the life of one of Sydney's last remaining Armenian Genocide survivors Mr. Arshag Badelian, who passed away earlier this month, Hockey said: "I have long argued that this Parliament should recognise the genocide committed against the Armenian people in 1915."

    The Shadow Treasurer added: "In the past month the Swedish parliament and the United States House Foreign Relations Committee have both recognised the genocide and these are very welcome developments.

    "More and more legislatures are voting to recognise this past injustice and it is time that Australia joined them."

    ANC Australia President, Mr. Varant Meguerditchian said: "We met with Mr. Hockey last week, and as soon as he was made aware of Mr. Badelian's passing, he decided it would be appropriate to address Parliament on his life and his legacy as a survivor of a Genocide yet to be recognised by the Federal government in Australia.

    "Mr. Hockey has again gone on public record calling for Australia to join the score of legislatures calling on Turkey to recognise the Armenian Genocide, and along with the statements this week of Ms. McKew and Mr. Fletcher; the battle for Federal recognition of the Armenian Genocide is very much alive."

    On Badelian, Hockey said: "His passing, on the eve of the 95th Anniversary of the Genocide, also gives us cause to reflect on these terrible events and to recommit ourselves to the mission of ensuring that such a travesty is never again inflicted on any people simply because of their race and culture."

    I wrote in another thread.....

    Originally posted by GreekForumer View Post
    NZ, and Australia for that matter, will never recognise the AG because the Turkish government will force us to choose between AG recognition and the Anzac cove commemorations in Turkey every 25th April.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CO02LNvtdAk
    I believe all states and territories in Australia will recognise the AG in the future but I cannot see the national parliament or senate doing so for the reason I have given above.

    I have not even seen an Australian newspaper mention the AG on the 24th April, the day before Anzac day.

    But then again, you never know what the future holds....
    The Hon. MARIE FICARRA [6.07 p.m.]: It was with much respect and admiration for the Armenian people that on 19 April 2009 at Lindfield I attended the ninety-fourth anniversary of the Armenian genocide. I wish to acknowledge the keynote speakers at that event, Dr Paul Bartrop from Deakin University in Melbourne, and His Eminence Archbishop Aghan Baliozian, Primate of the Armenian Apostolic Church of Australia and New Zealand. The ceremony was a solemn reminder of the mass killings and torture of Armenians perpetrated by the then Ottoman Government, particularly between the years 1915 and 1922.

    I joined with other members of Parliament to honour the memory of the 1.5 million men, women and children who died in the first genocide of the twentieth century. In 1915, on the eve of the Allied invasion of Turkey, the Ottoman Empire set in motion a plan to eradicate the Christian Armenian population living on their ancestral lands of eastern Anatolia, which is today within the borders of the Republic of Turkey. This State-sponsored program resulted in the brutal deprivation and extermination of some 1.5 million Armenian men, women and children. This Parliament recognises 24 April every year as a day of remembrance of the Armenian genocide. We condemn the Armenian genocide and all other acts of genocide as the ultimate acts of racial, religious and cultural intolerance. I am proud that this Parliament has a memorial to the Armenian people in the garden area on level 9.

    It was with sadness that many members of Parliament attending this commemorative event expressed their disappointment with our successive Federal governments since 1922. We regret their unwillingness to officially condemn, first, the genocide of the Armenians and, second, any attempt to deny such crimes against humanity. Concerns for diplomatic friction, strategic defence or trading retaliation are simply unjustified based on other international experience. In this age of enlightenment and accountability, all nations need to face up to their history, as did the German Government and people after World War II Nazi atrocities. Let us never forget Adolf Hitler's rhetorical and self-justifying question in 1939, before he embarked on his genocidal deeds against the xxxish people and others: "Who remembers now the destruction of the Armenians?" As political leaders in New South Wales we must always remember such atrocities, and we call upon the Federal Government to exercise moral leadership in this regard.

    Our Commonwealth political colleagues should cease avoiding the issue as if it will go away. It will never go away, and we will never let it be forgotten. If we are genuinely mournful about our own national wartime loss, paying homage to their sacrifice each year, we must also be honest lest we forget about the suffering and great human loss that the Armenians experienced throughout history. Armenia was our enduring ally in all wars we confronted in the name of liberty and freedom from oppression. As a great nation valuing democratic principles and the pursuit of truth, we should respect the sacrifices and suffering of our Armenian allies in a real and meaningful manner by condemning at a Federal level—as this Parliament and so many other international parliaments and governments have done—the Armenian genocide. Our Federal Government should also condemn any attempt to deny this factually recorded historical crime. I was very moved with the pledge given by the Hon. Brendan Nelson to have his colleagues address this neglect before he leaves Parliament at the next election. I sincerely hope that his colleagues in both Houses support this expression of truth in a bipartisan fashion.


  • #2
    Re: Growing calls for Armenian Genocide recognition in Australia

    Why does the Aussie government care so much about anzac cove?
    For the first time in more than 600 years, Armenia is free and independent, and we are therefore obligated
    to place our national interests ahead of our personal gains or aspirations.



    http://www.armenianhighland.com/main.html

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Growing calls for Armenian Genocide recognition in Australia

      Originally posted by Armanen View Post
      Why does the Aussie government care so much about anzac cove?
      When WWI ended some kind of weird emotional relationship was developed between Turkey and Australia and NZ. Basically it all surrounds this Ataturk quote:
      "Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives... You are now lying in the soil of a friendly country. Therefore rest in peace. There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets to us, where they lie side by side here in this country of ours... You, the mothers, who sent their sons from far away countries, wipe away your tears; Your sons are now lying in our bosom and are in peace. After having lost their lives on this land they have become our sons as well."
      Gallipoli - the Battle, from the edited h2g2, the Unconventional Guide to Life, the Universe and Everything

      Year after year they go there and act like Turkey and Australia and NZ are equal nations, despite obvious cultural, religious and human rights differences; and say "we all share the game goal" or we "each respect and love our countries".

      Because of this quote, people in NZ and Australia have developed some kind of denial-ism over Turkey's past.

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Growing calls for Armenian Genocide recognition in Australia

        Originally posted by Armanen View Post
        Why does the Aussie government care so much about anzac cove?
        "The observation that Gallipoli was a military disaster is beside the point. Anzac serves as Australia's creation story: in proving their manhood, Australian men proved our nationhood - a nation was born on that day of death. So the legend ran."
        Armanen, this blog will give you an idea of Australian sentiments and the connection to Anzac Cove.




        Someone mentioned the AG.
        As an aside, Ms Lake would probably be the first to proclaim her affinity with the victims of Darfur (and good on her too). It's a shame that she doesn't show the same affinity with the Armenians, over 1 million of whom were being killed by the Turks at the very time that Britain, France, and their minions were 'invading' the country. What is a shame is not that we attacked Turkey, rather, it's the fact that we didn't succeed in overturning a genocidal regime earlier than we did.

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: Growing calls for Armenian Genocide recognition in Australia

          WW1 was not a righteous war in any sense, to me it was war of one imperialist against another; mindless, brutal and it defied all rationality to fight it. Yet both sides idolise their 'heroes' and glorify war, ignoring the causes or reasons for such madness. I wouldn't call the treaty of Versailles and its result in causing a great depression, and a second world war a great achievement. Perhaps we should be condemning war on Anzac day rather than worshipping it? But I guess that's heresy, the British Empire can't be wrong.

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: Growing calls for Armenian Genocide recognition in Australia

            I wonder how this will play out.

            NZ caught in Gallipoli stoush

            New Zealand has reportedly been caught up in a stoush between Australia and Turkey about a monument built in Sydney to remember the alleged Assyrian genocide during World War 1.

            Plans for a major archaeological survey of the Gallipoli battlegrounds have been put on hold due to the argument, Radio New Zealand reports.

            Archaeologists from New Zealand, Australia and Turkey were supposed to start work next Friday, to provide detailed information about military sites at Gallipoli.

            But Turkey is withholding cooperation because it objects to the monument, alleging genocide of Turkey's Assyrian minority during and after World War I, Radio New Zealand reports.

            Turkey says it does not want to block the survey of Gallipoli, but concedes it could be delayed while the dispute with Australia is sorted out.

            The work was supposed to begin next Thursday.

            http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/europe/...llipoli-stoush

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: Growing calls for Armenian Genocide recognition in Australia

              Very interesting.

              Who is telling the truth




              Sarkisian’s Office Denies Biden Statement

              YEREVAN—In a swift response to a video anonymously posted on YouTube late Tuesday, in which Vice-President Joe Biden tells an Armenian activist that President Serzh Sarkisian had asked him not to “force” the Armenian Genocide recognition while the Armenia-Turkey talks were in progress, a presidential spokesman denied the statement and urged the White House to release conversation records.

              Commenting on the YouTube video, Sarkisian’s press secretary Armen Arzumanyan said the president did not call Biden and did not make the statement attributed to him. Arzumanyan invited the White House to release the official records of the conversation.


              “The president of the Republic of Armenia has never called United States Vice President Joe Biden. It was at the latter’s initiative that two telephone conversations took place in 2009 and during those conversations the president of the Republic of Armenia did not, directly or indirectly, make the expression that is ascribed to him on the video,” said Arzumanyan.

              “On the contrary, in all his public speeches and official meetings, President Serzh Sarkisian has emphasized the importance of the international recognition and condemnation of the Armenian Genocide, and urged not to justify the delay of recognition with the ongoing negotiations with Turkey. Being confident that the White House has at its disposal all of the U.S. vice-president’s official records and phone conversations, the RA presidential administration officially gives its agreement to publicize the noted phone conversation records,” added Arzymanyan.

              The full text of the exchange between Biden and the activist follows.

              Question: “I’m Armenian, and I want to thank you for the work you did in the Senate. I have a question. I am very involved in the Armenian American community and as you know we’ve been…”

              Vice-President Biden: “Oh, I know.”

              Question: “… we’ve been very, very burned. I want to know what is the message that we should be giving to our community?”

              Biden: “What you should be giving to your community is that we are not backing off. The Turks have to come to the realization of what the reality is. And what we got to do is, you know, this, the compromise that was going on and being worked at for a while… Tell them that it was the Armenian President that called me and said ‘Look, do not force this issue now, while we are in negotiations.’ We passed. That’s past right now. So anyway, reality has a way of intruding.”
              Politics is not about the pursuit of morality nor what's right or wrong
              Its about self interest at personal and national level often at odds with the above.
              Great politicians pursue the National interest and small politicians personal interests

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