Armenian-Australians calling on Australia’s political leaders to recognise Armenian Genocide
With the support of sections of the Greek community, a series of events have been planned nationwide by the Armenian Genocide Commemorative Committee as they call for both the Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton to recognise the genocide of 1915.
This year marks the genocide’s 108th anniversary and Australia’s Armenian community, with Assyrians and Greeks in support, have organised a series of initiatives to commemorate the occasion.
The ultimate goal they are striving for is to have the leaders of Australia’s major political parties to formally recognise it as genocide.
This weekend’s events open with a “March for Justice” in Sydney on Sunday 23 April, with various members of Australia’s Armenian, Assyrian and Greek communities meeting at Hyde Park before marching towards Sydney’s Customs House near Circular Quay.
On behalf of the Greek community, representations will include people of Pontian and Asia Minor descent, those with direct personal and family connections to the Genocides of the Hellenes and the indigenous peoples of eastern Thrace and Anatolia said Dr Panayiotis Diamadis, Director at the Australian Institute for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, to Neos Kosmos.
“This is the annual opportunity for our community, many of whom are descendants of survivors of the Genocides, to show that we will continue to honour the memory of our ancestors,” Dr Diamadis told Neos Kosmos.
As for the collaboration between the three communities, he stressed “it is the result of the gradual development of cooperation and coordination of the three communities that we have more awareness of the just cause of political recognition of the Genocides in Australia than at any time since the 1920s”.
“We have now moved to the field of political cooperation in pursuit of the justice of recognition for our ancestors, so unjustly lost,” the research said.
Executive Director of the Armenian National Committee of Australia, Michael Kolokossian, urged all people to participate in the march.
“We call on our broader community, and our Assyrian and Greek compatriots, to turn up and make their voices heard as the Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition prepare statements which will be delivered on the 24th of April,” said Mr Kolokossian.
Concurrently with the march, Western Australia will hold a memorial service at the Subiaco Fallen Soldiers’ Memorial, this being the first time the state has organised a commemorative event.
On Monday 24 April, the day of the anniversary, a national commemoration will be held at the Concourse Concert Hall in Chatswood NSW, with a keynote from Dr Umit Kurt at 7pm while a candlelight vigil is planned in Melbourne at the State Library.
On the same day, an Adelaide commemoration has been organised for 6 pm at the Migration Museum.
Two other commemorations have also been set in NSW to conclude the events: at the Holy Trinity Armenian Apostolic Church in Western Sydney, on Wednesday 26 April at 7.30 pm and at Memorial Park, organised by Ryde City Council on Saturday 29 April 2.30 pm.