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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."
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."
Originally posted by GreekForumer
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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.
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.
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