SYDNEY: Eastwood Park will host a large gathering of Armenian-Australians in support of awareness and recognition of the Armenian Genocide. The community’s 4000-strong voters in the electorate of Bennelong are shaping as critical to the hopes of candidates in the upcoming Australian federal election. Nationwide media outlets have afforded much coverage to the seat of Bennelong where sitting member Prime Minister John Howard faces a spirited challenge by high-profile Labor candidate Ms Maxine McKew. A [i]Sydney Morning Herald[/i] article this week mentioned that the Armenian Australian community represented a critical mass in Bennelong and “...in a tight election, the Armenian vote will count big timeâ€. Ms McKew recently met with a delegation of the Armenian National Committee of Australia (ANC Australia) to discuss issues of concern to the Armenian-Australian community. At the community’s request, the Prime Minister has agreed to a similar meeting with ANC Australia in the lead up to the election. [b]Armenian Family Day – A Rally for Genocide Recognition[/b] will be held on October 14, at Eastwood Park’s Lower Oval to raise awareness of the atrocities of genocide. “It is the obligation of every Armenian-Australian to advocate awareness and recognition of genocide,†ANC Australia President, Mr. Varant Meguerditchian announced. “As children and grandchildren of genocide survivors, we must work toward ensuring that the experiences of the Armenians, Jews, Cambodians and Rwandans are never allowed to be repeated.†Politicians, public figures and community representatives will be present amongst the estimated 1000 attendees at the event. [b]Armenian Family Day – A Rally for Genocide Recognition[/b] will provide an opportunity for supporters of genocide recognition to address the community regarding this sensitive issue. [link=http://anc.org.au/news.php?extend.55][b]VIEW FLYER IN ENGLISH BY CLICKING HERE[/b][/link] [link=http://anc.org.au/news.php?extend.56][b]VIEW FLYER IN ARMENIAN BY CLICKING HERE[/b][/link] [End] _____________________________________________________________________________ [i]During the last days of the Ottoman Empire, the Government implemented a policy of Genocide upon its Christian Armenian population. As a result, up to 1.5million Armenian men, women and children lost their lives between 1915 and 1922. Adding weight to the importance of recognising the Armenian Genocide is the research conducted by the Australian Institute for Holocaust and Genocide Studies that discovered records of the Australia’s humanitarian assistance to Armenians following the genocide and testimonies by ANZAC soldiers to atrocities against the Armenians as they occurred. In 1997 the Parliament of New South Wales became the first legislative body to recognise and condemn the Genocide of the Armenians.[/i]
