Whilst your Editorial dated 17 May 2006, “This is not the place to revive old conflicts†attempts to balance the importance of remembering significant events (such as the Genocide of the Armenians and subsequently the Pontian Greeks and Assyrians by the Ottoman Turkish State during World War I) and the need for multicultural harmony, its underlying message is, with respect, fatally flawed.
Since when does a commemorative event regarding one of the worst crimes against humanity in modern times, such as the Armenian Genocide, constitute an “old conflict†that stirs “old hostilities and prejudices� The only people that are offended by the commemoration of the Armenian Genocide are those who seek to deny that crime, or who are plain ignorant of recent history.
In 1998, in honour of the 50th Anniversary of the U.N. Genocide Convention, over 150 distinguished international scholars (including genocide scholars) and writers such as Harold Pinter, Norman Mailer, Yehuda Bauer, John Updike and Arthur Miller signed a open letter entitled “We Commemorate the Armenian Genocide of 1915 and Condemn the Turkish Government's Denial of this Crime Against Humanity “. That open letter stated the following regarding what they described as the “morally and intellectually bankrupt†denial of the Armenian Genocide – “Denial of genocide is the final stage of genocide. It is what Ellie Weisel has called a "double killing". Denial murders the dignity of the survivors and seeks to destroy remembrance of the crime. In a century plagued by genocide, we affirm the moral necessity of rememberingâ€.
It is ironic that those who have again recently sought to engage in this “final stage of genocide†– the ultimate act of racism, including a couple of Members of the Victorian Parliament, have cried “racial vilification†and demanded “apologies†in response to a short speech by Jenny Mikakos in the Victorian Parliament commemorating the genocidal acts of Ottoman Turkey during WWI. It is sad to see certain of the media regurgitate this drivel without applying any critical thought and to beat-up the baseless “racial tension†spin. Surely such genocide denial should have been the subject of condemnation in Editorials and news reports, not Ms Mikakos’ speech.
Contrary to your final message in your Editorial that “ethnic conflict tends to be repeated by those who allow themselves to become its prisonersâ€, we are reminded of the famous quote of the respected Spanish-American Philosopher George Santayana – “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat itâ€.
