SYDNEY: An overflowing Willoughby Town Hall witnessed keynote speaker Dr. Panayiotis Diamadis reveal the historic humanitarian deeds of Australians during the Armenian Genocide of 1915, at Sydney’s Armenian Genocide Commemoration Evening on Tuesday 24 April.
Dr. Diamadis, a Doctor of Philosophy in the Political Study of Genocide Studies, exposed to the 1000 guests, including Genocide survivors, in attendance, eyewitness accounts of the Armenian Genocide by Australian Prisoners Of War in Turkey, and the subsequent Australian relief effort for victims of the Genocide.
“The eyewitness accounts of Australian World War I POWs stored at the Australian National Archives remains as undeniable evidence of the Armenian Genocide and the crimes committed by the Young Turk Government,†Mr. Varant Meguerditchian, President of the Armenian National Committee of Australia, commented.
“The humanitarian efforts of charitable Australians, as part of the Armenian Relief Fund lay testament to the kind generosity of the Australian public,†he added. “We must never allow for this generosity and goodwill to be forgotten.â€
Primate of the Armenian Apostolic Church of Australia and New Zealand, Archbishop Aghan Baliozian led a long list of dignitaries who attended the evening to help commemorate the 92nd Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide; when during the last days of the Ottoman Empire, the ‘Young Turk’ 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. The Republic of Turkey continues to deny responsibility of the Armenian Genocide. Federal Parliamentary representatives in attendance included Senator Maurice Payne, who represented the Prime Minster of Australia, the Honourable John Howard; and Ms Maxine McKew, who was representing the Leader of the Federal Opposition, Mr. Kevin Rudd.
The Premier of New South Wales, the Honourable Morris Iemma was represented by his Deputy, the Honourable John Watkins MP; while the Leader of the Opposition of New South Wales, Mr. Barry O’Farrell was present, flanked by colleagues including Ms Jillian Skinner and Ms Gladys Berejiklian; the latter being the first Australian parliamentarian of Armenian heritage.
Mr. Watkins and Mr. O’Farrell were unanimous in their appeal to the Australian Federal Government to follow their lead at State level in New South Wales, by properly recognising the atrocities committed against the Armenians in 1915 as Genocide, and calling on Turkey’s modern day leadership to do similarly by facing up to their past.
The Honourable Joe Hockey MP (pictured) stated in his address to the gathered: “My commitment to have Australia to properly recognise the Armenian Genocide is unwavering.†He added: “We cannot let 100 years pass without true global recognition; without Turkish government recognition.â€
ANC Australia Communications Officer, Mr. Haig Kayserian, said the community was “encouraged†by the support shown by Mr. Hockey and his parliamentary colleagues in advancing the Armenian Genocide recognition efforts at Federal level.
“The Australian Federal Government must properly and emphatically condemn acts such as the Armenian Genocide to ensure they are not repeated in the future,†said Mr. Kayserian.
The 92nd Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide Commemoration Evening included a tribute to the life of Turkey-based Armenian Genocide and human rights advocate, Mr. Hrant Dink, whose 52-year life was tragically cut short in January 2007 when he was murdered outside his Istanbul office.
