SYDNEY: The Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) has released a powerful statement expressing their deep concerns of Professor Justin McCarthy’s upcoming address in Parliament House, Canberra.
In a media release dated 20 November 2013, the ECAJ accepts the “overwhelming view of history scholars that the killing of hundreds of thousands of civilians in these communities was done with genocidal intent.”
The release goes on to address the issue of McCarthy’s upcoming event at Parliament House on 21 November, which the ECAJ says, will mean the institution is “lending his theories the misleading appearance of official approval. In our view, no part of Parliament House should be misused in this way.”
Executive Director of the Armenian National Committee of Australia (ANC Australia), Vache Kahramanian stated: “We thank the Executive Council of Australian Jewry for their principled position on this important matter. Venues such as Parliament House should never allow genocide deniers to have a stage.”
McCarthy was due to speak at events at the University of Melbourne and the New South Wales Art Gallery but were both cancelled by the respective institutions upon learning of McCarthy’s denialist views on the Armenian Genocide.
ANC Australia has written to Laurie Ferguson MP, who booked the venue in Parliament House for the event, to immediately withdraw his name and revoke access to the venue to ensure McCarthy isn’t allowed to spread his denialist views.
The full text of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry media release can be read below:
The Executive Council of Australian Jewry notes the current visit to Australia of the American Professor of history, Justin McCarthy. Professor McCarthy campaigns around the world against the recognition of the Armenian genocide.
Professor McCarthy does not deny that from 1915 to 1923 more than 1 million Armenians, Pontian Greeks and Assyrians, almost all of them civilians, lost their lives at the hands of the Ottoman Caliphate. However, notwithstanding that this slaughter was on a massive scale over a period of years, Professor McCarthy maintains that this loss of life was not systematic and was not carried out with the intention of eradicating these Christian communities, but was an act of war.
The inherent implausibility of this contention raises many questions about the quality of Professor McCarthy’s analysis. The ECAJ accepts the overwhelming view of history scholars that the killing of hundreds of thousands of civilians in these communities was done with genocidal intent.
Whilst freedom of expression and academic freedom require that Professor McCarthy must be at liberty to put forward his theories, the manner in which he does so must not lapse into racial vilification. Professor McCarthy is a guest of Australia and must respect Australia’s laws during his visit.
One of the venues to which Professor McCarthy has been invited to put forward his views, is a room in Parliament House Canberra, thereby lending his theories the misleading appearance of official approval. In our view, no part of Parliament House should be misused in this way.
Peter Wertheim AM | Executive Director
