CANBERRA: The Armenian National Committee of Australia (ANC-AU) has written to the representative of the United States in Australia, Charge d’Affaires Michael Goldman, expressing the Armenian-Australian community’s appreciation for President Joe Biden’s recognition of the Armenian Genocide.
On the 106th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, the United States took a historic step when President Biden recognised the 1915 massacres of 1.5 million Armenians as Genocide. This historic shift in US policy follows the United States Congress recognition of the Armenian Genocide in the previous year in both chambers.
In their letter, the peak public affairs body of the 50,000-strong Armenian community in Australia thanked the Biden Administration for accurately characterising the events perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire as Genocide and for President Biden upholding his own beliefs on the matter.
Biden's recognition stands in stark contrast to Prime Minister Scott Morrison's statement commemorating the horrific events of 1915, which excluded the use of the word genocide, failing to uphold his own beliefs articulated in
his speech to Parliament on 26th May 2011.
The Armenian, Assyrian and Greek communities of Sydney and Melbourne, who
marched on Saturday 24th April 2021, expressed their disappointment at the Prime Minister's statement, which shows the significant pressure from a foreign dictatorship that has threatened Australian lives.
"We thank President Biden for standing up for justice and human rights and hope his example will motivate our own Prime Minister to also stand up for his declared beliefs and join the United States and over 30 other nations including France, Germany and Canada in recognising the Armenian Genocide,” said ANC-AU Executive Director Haig Kayserian.
"We have seen throughout history, that a crime unpunished is a crime encouraged, and the United States recognising this fact regardless of the political fallout from President Erdogan will help end the cycle of genocide."
"We would also like to congratulate our colleagues at the Armenian National Committee of America and the greater Armenian-American community for achieving this historic result for truth and justice, after many years of resilient campaigning in the face of a coordinated spread of misinformation well-funded by immoral foreign interference," Kayserian added.
