The latest call is communicated in a letter co-signed by the President of the Greek Community of Melbourne and Victoria, Bill Papastergiadis, the Cyprus Community of Melbourne and Victoria President Theo Theophanous, as well as Peter Stefanidis, President of the Federation of Pontian Associations Australia and Simela Stamatopoulos, President of the Australian Federation of Pontian Associations, who support the move.
This is not the first time Greek Australian representatives exert pressure on the Australian Government to proceed with the recognition.
But importantly the move comes following a related motion that was passed unanimously by the House of Representatives on 29 November.
The letter concludes by asking the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition to ‘respect the unanimous motion’ and treat the issue as non-partisan.
Letter in full following:
To the Prime Minister of Australia, Honourable Scott Morrison
cc. Foreign Minister, Hon. Marise Payne; Leader of the Opposition, Hon. Anthony Albanese; Opposition Foreign Affairs spokesperson, Senator Penny Wong.
Re: Motion passed unanimously in the Federal Parliament 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.
Dear Prime Minister,
As Presidents of the Greek Community of Melbourne and Victoria and the Cyprus Community of Melbourne and Victoria together with the Presidents of the Pontian Federations of Australia, we write to you to urge you to act on the motion that was passed by the House of Representatives on 29th November 2021 calling on the Government to formally recognise the Armenian, Assyrian and Greek genocides committed by the Ottoman empire in the period 1915 to 1923.
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.
Following the passing of this resolution in Parliament with bipartisan support it is now time for the Australian Government to also recognise this genocide formally.
The Turkish Government has steadfastly refused to acknowledge this 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.
The motion in the Federal Parliament 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
Prime Minister, given the unanimous support by the Parliament for the government to take action to formally recognise the genocide of Armenians, Assyrians and Greeks we ask that you take action to bring this about.
This should not be a partisan political issue in the lead up to the coming elections. Our communities would welcome action by your government to seek to address this historical wrong through the first step of recognising that it occurred.
Yours Respectfully
Bill Papastergiadis, President of Greek Community of Melbourne and Victoria
Hon Theo Theophanous, President of Cyprus Community of Melbourne and Victoria
Peter Stefanidis and Simela Stamatopoulos, Presidents of the Pontian Federations of Australia
