SYDNEY: A group of Armenian-Australians residing in Prime Minister Tony Abbott's electorate of Warringah have written to him demanding his Foreign Minister Julie Bishop retracts her recent statement explicitly denying the Armenian Genocide.
In a letter addressed to the Australian Turkish Advocacy Alliance, Bishop extraordinarily denied the historical reality of the first genocide of the 20th century by stating “we, do not however, recognise these events as ‘genocide’." This outright denial, according to the Armenian National Committee of Australia (ANC Australia), "takes Australia almost as far back as Turkey on this issue".
In addition to an online letter drive initiated by ANC Australia, which attracted over 500 complaint emails to Bishop's inbox, a number community members who reside in Killarney Heights, Forestville, Manly, Beauty Point, Beacon Hill and Balgowlah have written to their local Member of Parliament, Prime Minister Abbott to ensure their anger is heard.
"ANC Australia has received copies of these letters sent from understandably disgusted members of our community, all of whom are direct descendants of survivors of the Armenian Genocide," said ANC Australia Executive Director, Vache Kahramanian. "It is with this sort of direct involvement in the political process that we can expect the answers we demand from our leaders."
