The Presidents of the Greek Community of Melbourne and Victoria, Bill Papastergiadis, and the Cyprus Community of Melbourne and Victoria, Theo Theophanous, with the support of the Pontian Federations of Australia, have written to the Prime Minister calling on the Government to formally recognise the genocides committed by the Ottoman Empire between 1915 and 1923 of Armenians, Assyrians, Greeks and other Christian minorities.
The action by the two Presidents follows a motion that was passed unanimously by the House of Representatives on November 29, 2021 calling on the Government to formally recognise these genocides.
READ MORE: House of Representatives calls on Australian Govt to recognise Greek, Armenian, Assyrian genocides.
The motion in the Federal Parliament was supported by both sides of Parliament. It was moved by Government member Trent Zimmerman and seconded by Labor’s Joel Fitzgibbon. Other government speakers were John Alexander and Julian Leeser and from the opposition, Josh Burns and Steve Georganas.
As of 2021, there are 31 countries around the world that have recognised these genocides including the US, France, Italy, Brazil, Sweden, the Netherlands, Austria, Denmark and the Vatican City.
“It’s time for Australia to also step up,” a joint statement from the associations said.
“The Turkish Government has steadfastly refused to acknowledge its legacy of past wrongs. We believe that it is in the interests of Turkey itself for it to confront its past and issue a formal apology. This is precisely what Germany did following the genocide and holocaust they perpetrated on Jewish people in the second world war. It has been an important moral admission by Germany.
READ MORE: Irene Pnevmatikos MP moves motion for recognition of Genocide Remembrance Day.
“We do not believe that this should not be a partisan political issue in the lead up to the coming elections. All we have asked of the Prime Minister, and in fact we also ask of the Leader of the Opposition, is that they respect the unanimous motion passed by the parliament and act upon it.”
Bill Papastergiadis, President of Greek Community of Melbourne and Victoria
Hon Theo Theophanous, President of Cyprus Community of Melbourne and Victoria
Peter Stefanidis, President of the Federation of Pontian Associations Australia
Simela Stamatopoulos, President of the Australian Federation of Pontian Associations
