In a letter to Victoria’s Premier Jacinta Allan, the President of the Greek Community of Melbourne (GCM) Bill Papastergiadis has urged the state government to back a proposed motion in the Legislative Council to formally recognise the genocides of Greek, Assyrian, and Armenian populations from 1915 to 1923.
Full letter in English:
Dear Premier,
I write to you on behalf of the Board of Directors of the Greek Community of Melbourne (GCM) and the community which we represent and serve.
I understand that the Victorian Greens intend moving a motion in the Legislative Council to recognise the 1915-1923 Greek, Assyrian and Armenian Genocides.
The GCM and the broader Victorian Greek community would like to express our strong and unequivocal support for the proposed motion which we encourage your Government to support.
We encourage you to show the same commitment and leadership that you have shown at other times such as with the recognition of past wrongs committed against the indigenous community including apologies for these injustices. This has helped in addressing intergenerational trauma of our indigenous communities. The proposed recognition of these genocides will address such trauma in Victoria’s Greek, Armenian and Assyrian communities.
The historical facts are accepted and well documented by respected academics and historians. They show that 3 million mainly Christians of Greek, Armenian and Assyrian ethnicities were the victims of these genocides. It is not only these community members that support the recognition of these genocides it also includes Christian denominations from across the State including the World Council of Churches and other Christian denominations that have written to you.
The established facts surrounding the genocides have also led to 34 nations around the world recognising them including, the US, France, Germany, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Greece, Italy, Mexico, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, and Sweden. Many states within these nations have also recognised the genocides.
Many thousands of community members will congratulate you if Victoria becomes the next state to recognise the 1915-1923 genocides in their Parliament following New South Wales (1997), South Australia (2009) and Tasmania (2023). The Liberal Party has stated that they will support the motion if the Labor Party does. The motion should be supported as a matter of principle, and we urge you to do so on that basis.
It should be emphasised that this recognition is not anti-Turkish as some may claim. It is a necessary foundation for reconciliation between peoples by bringing the affected communities together to share their stories of suffering and move toward a future of understanding as we have done with our indigenous communities.
The debate and vote on this motion will be a defining moment for those who have been waiting for recognition and justice, and the way members vote will not go unnoticed.
We hope that you will support the motion and should you feel it appropriate and necessary, I stand ready along with other representatives of the Greek Community to meet with you to discuss it.
Finally, it should be noted that I write this letter in my capacity as President and on behalf of the of the GCM and not in my capacity as a VMC commissioner.
Yours Sincerely,
Bill Papastergiadis, President of the Greek Community of Melbourne
