SYDNEY: The Honourable John Ajaka formally acknowledged the historical reality of the Armenian Genocide in a speech on the floor of the NSW parliament this week and declared that Armenians had been forced out of Western Armenia.
Parliamentary Secretary for Transport and Roads, Ajaka rose in the Legislative Council to place on public record his condemnation of the wholesale massacre and permanent displacement of Armenians from their historical homeland.
"It is recognised that the tragedy began when 250 Armenian leaders and intellectuals were arrested, deported and killed by the then Ottoman Government,” said Ajaka.
"By the tragedy’s end an estimated 1.5 million Armenians had been killed. The Armenian population was also permanently displaced from the lands of Western Armenia.”
“This genocide is a true example of the detrimental effects of discrimination,” concluded Ajaka.
Armenian National Committee of Australia (ANC Australia) Executive Director Varant Meguerditchian applauded the legislator for highlighting the forced removal of the Armenian people from their historic homeland in Western Armenia during the genocide.
"While Turkey continues to deny the events of the past and continues to destroy culturally and historically valuable monuments in Western Armenia, a resolution to the Armenian Genocide remains unlikely,” he said.
"We thank Mr Ajaka for applying pressure on Turkey so that it may bring about an end to its harmful policies and to instead build a relationship with the Armenian people, based on true understanding and respect.”
