The President of the Greek Community of Melbourne and Victoria, Bill Papastergiadis and the Cyprus Community of Melbourne and Victoria, Theo Theophanous, with the support of the Pontian Federations of Australia, have written to the Prime Minister calling on the Government to formally recognise the genocides committed by the Ottoman Empire between 1915 and 1923 of Armenians, Assyrians, Greeks, and other Christian minorities.
The action by the two Presidents follows a motion that was passed unanimously by the House of Representatives on 29th November 2021 calling on the Government to formally recognise these genocides.
We note that the motion in the Federal Parliament was supported by both sides of Parliament. It was moved by Government member Trent Zimmerman and seconded by Labor’s Joel Fitzgibbon. Other government speakers were John Alexander and Julian Leeser and from the opposition Josh Burns and Steve Georganas.
We note that as of 2021 there are 31 countries around the world that have recognised these genocides including the US, France, Italy, Brazil, Sweden, the Netherlands, Austria, Denmark and the Vatican City. Its time for Australia to also step up.
The Turkish Government has steadfastly refused to acknowledge its legacy of past wrongs. We believe that it is in the interests of Turkey itself for it to confront its past and issue a formal apology. This is precisely what Germany did following the genocide and holocaust they perpetrated on Jewish people in the second world war. It has been an important moral admission by Germany.
We do not believe that this should not be a partisan political issue in the lead up to the coming elections. All we have asked of the Prime Minister and in fact we also ask of the Leader of the Opposition is that they respect the unanimous motion passed by the parliament and act upon it.
The letter follows:
To the Honourable Trent Zimmerman MP,
Re: Motion passed unanimously in the Federal Parliament calling on the Government to formally recognise the genocides committed by the Ottoman Empire between 1915 and 1923 of Armenians, Assyrians, Greeks and other Christian minorities.
Dear Mr Zimmerman.
As Presidents of the Greek Community of Melbourne and Victoria and the Cyprus Community of Melbourne and Victoria together with the Presidents of the Pontian Federations of Australis, we write to congratulate you on the motion that was passed by the House of Representatives on 29th November 2021 calling on the Government to formally recognise the Armenian, Assyrian and Greek genocides committed by the Ottoman empire in the period 1915 to 1923.
As of 2021 there are 31 countries around the world that have recognised these genocides including the US, France, Italy, Brazil, Sweden, the Netherlands, Austria, Denmark and the Vatican City.
Following the passing of this resolution in Parliament with bipartisan support we have also written to the Prime Minister, the Honourable Scott Morrison requesting that the Australian Government recognise this genocide formally.
The Turkish Government has steadfastly refused to acknowledge this legacy of past wrongs. We believe that it is in the interests of Turkey itself for it to confront its past and issue a formal apology. This is precisely what Germany did following the genocide and holocaust they perpetrated on Jewish people in the second world war. It has been an important moral admission by Germany.
We note that the motion in the Federal Parliament was supported by both sides of Parliament with six speakers all in support, three from the Government benches and three from the Opposition.
Given the unanimous support by the Parliament for the government to take action to formally recognise the genocide of Armenians, Assyrians and Greeks we now ask that you continue to press the government for this to occur.This should not be a partisan political issue in the lead up to the coming elections and we hope the Parliament’s wish can be actioned soon.
Yours Respectfully
