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- 4 May 2005
Armenian Genocide Ninetieth Anniversary
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Page: 15601
Ms GLADYS BEREJIKLIAN (Willoughby) [5.35 p.m.]: I wish to inform the House that 24 April 2005 marked the ninetieth anniversary of the human tragedy that is the Armenian genocide. As the grand-daughter of survivors and a member of Parliament who represents an electorate which, for decades, has been at the centre of activity for the Australian-Armenian community, I will detail the commemorative services that marked this solemn and historic occasion. It is with deep sadness and a strong sense of frustration that those with Armenian heritage around the world recall the events of 1915 as the descendants of the perpetrators of the genocide to this day, namely the Turkish Government, refuse to accept that the genocide occurred, notwithstanding that many Turkish academics are calling upon their fellow country men and women to come to terms with their past.
The Armenians, living on ancestral lands in eastern provinces of the Ottoman Empire, represented a physical, political, cultural and religious obstacle to a homogenised Turkic Empire. The architects of the genocide were inspired by a will to replace the multireligious Ottoman Empire with a pure Pan-Turkic Empire stretching from the Bosphorus to Central Asia. At that time more than half the Armenian population was brutally massacred. Some 1.5 million men, women and children were systematically exterminated and hundreds of thousands were forced to flee their homeland. The brutality started on 24 April 1915 and most Armenian political, religious and cultural leaders were arrested and murdered. The remaining population of the elderly, women and children were rounded up by special organisation death squads and were forced to either renounce their Christianity or to be raped or massacred. Most of the survivors were deported from their ancestral lands and exiled around the world.
If such crimes against humanity are not redressed genocidist states have a licence to commit these crimes again and again. No greater evidence exists than the absolute trail of human misery during the twentieth century caused by the heinous crime of genocide—the Jewish Holocaust, Eritrea, Cambodia, the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda and, as we speak, Dharfur in the Sudan. Under the auspices of the Armenian Genocide Commemorative Committee the Willoughby Town Hall was the venue of a major service on 24 April 2005. I thank the members of Parliament on both sides of the Chamber who came to show their support for the community and to pay their respects to the 1.5 million victims of the Armenian genocide, and to all victims of genocide. International guest speaker at the function, Mrs Hilda Thcoboian, President of the Armenian-European Federation for Justice and Diplomacy, spoke of the considerable progress in Europe in recognition of the genocide. She also outlined the large sum of resources the Turkish Government is continuing to dedicate to fuel its machine of genocide denial.
Earlier that day members of the Armenian community gathered in Meadowbank Park to unveil a plaque dedicated to the victims of the Armenian genocide by Ryde City Council. This followed a unanimous motion passed by Ryde City Council in acknowledging the Armenian genocide as the first genocide of the twentieth century. On the evening of 25 April the Armenian General Benevolent Union held a commemoration at the Macquarie Theatre, where international guest speaker Dr Touranian spoke about the importance of remembering Armenian culture but, most importantly, within the context of first and foremost being loyal and hardworking Australian citizens. On 28 April the Armenian Youth Federation held a candlelight vigil from Hyde Park to Parliament House. They met with participants and community leaders on the rooftop garden, where a ceremony was held at the site of the memorial, which reflects the motion passed in this Chamber in 1997.
On Sunday 1 May the Hye Hoki Armenian Youth Group held an outstanding film festival and showed four films, which shed considerable light on the impact of the genocide through successive motions. The words of the 1997 bipartisan and unanimous motion condemning the atrocities of the Armenian genocide moved by my predecessor the Hon. Peter Collins appear on the plaque in the garden in this building. The motion joins members of the House with members of the New South Wales Armenian community in honouring the memory of the 1.5 million men, women and children who fell victim to the first genocide of the twentieth century; condemns the genocide of the Armenians and all other acts of genocide committed during our century as the ultimate act of racial, religious and cultural intolerance; recognises the importance of remembering and learning from such dark chapters in human history to ensure that such crimes against humanity are not allowed to be repeated; condemns and prevents all attempts to use the passage of time to deny or distort the historical truth of the genocide of the Armenians and other acts of genocide committed during this century; designates 24 April in every year thereafter throughout New South Wales as a day of remembrance of the 1.5 million Armenians who fell victim to the first genocide of the twentieth century; and calls on the Commonwealth Government to officially condemn the genocide of the Armenians and any attempt to deny such crimes against humanity.
As a child I was often reminded of the tragedy that befell my grandparents and I felt fortunate to be born and raised in a wonderful country like Australia. I was always encouraged by my parents and leaders within the Australian Armenian community to be active and involved in important causes and issues. When the heinous crime of genocide is committed against any group of people on earth it is a crime committed against all of us. We must be forever vigilant in recognising and acting against such atrocities to ensure that they never occur again. Last Saturday morning I joined my friends in the Rwandan community who came together to remember the 800,000 victims of the Rwanda genocide, which occurred just 11 years ago. I listened with great sadness as survivors of the genocide spoke of witnessing the tragic deaths of their parents and siblings, and described their own fight for life. As human beings we all have a collective responsibility to ensure that the perpetrators of genocide are brought to justice and that we condemn such unspeakable acts no matter where they occur in the world. [Time expired.]
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