Tweet
AUSTRALIAN MP REPLIES TO TURKISH CONSUL-GENERAL CONCERNING GENOCIDE
Assyrian International News Agency AINA
Aug 23 2013
Australia (AINA) -- In a speech to the New South Wales Parliament
on Wednesday, August 21, 2013, the Rev Fred Nile said the following
to the Turkish Consul-General concerning Armenian, Assyrian and
Hellenic-Greek genocides:
Armenian, Assyrian And Greek Genocides
Reverend the Hon. FRED NILE [6.11 p.m.]: I wish to speak on the
genocide of the Indigenous Assyrian, Armenian and Hellenic Greek
populations of the Ottoman Empire. Part of this adjournment speech is a
response to the Hon. Charlie Lynn's previous adjournment speech. I take
this opportunity to clarify or go into more depth on the Australian
historical sources from which I have drawn my conclusions.
The term "genocide" was coined by Polish jurist Raphael Lemkin in 1943,
drawing heavily on the experiences of the Armenians, Assyrians and
Hellenic Greeks. As Lemkin stated in a radio broadcast on 23 December
1947, "History and the present are full of genocide cases.
Christians of various denominations, Moslems and Jews, Armenians
and Slavs, Greeks and Russians, dark skinned Hereros in Africa and
white skinned Poles perished by millions from this crime." Writing
in Gallipoli Mission two decades earlier, Charles W. Bean noted
"the attempts by some Turkish leaders to exterminate this people,
and the dreadful means used before and during the war".
Almost 300 Anzacs were taken prisoner by the Ottoman Empire during
World War I. Approximately 67 were captured around Anzac Cove. In
addition, there were the 30 crew members of the Australian submarine
HMAS AE2, which sunk on 30 April 1915, and approximately 200 others
from the battle fronts in Sinai, Palestine and Mesopotamia. There
are published and unpublished repatriated prisoner-of-war statements,
diaries and letters from Anzac records, witnessing and hearing about
atrocities committed against the Indigenous Hellenic Greek, Armenian
and Assyrian peoples of the Ottoman Empire. The diary of Private
Daniel Bartholomew Creedon of the 9th Battalion, AIF, is but one
example of material in the Australian War Memorial relating to the
genocides. Captured on Gallipoli on 28 June 1915, Creedon recorded
how in the Ankara region he was held at different rimes "in an old
Monastery" and "in the church". On 2 February 1916 Creedon made the
following entry:
The people say the Turks killed one and a quarter million Armenians.
Private Daniel Creedon died in Angora, or Ankara, on 27 February 1917,
aged 23 years. Without a known grave, he is commemorated on Memorial
49 in the Baghdad (North Gate) War Cemetery, Iraq. The Dunsterforce
was a small British army including 22 Australians that "was despatched
by the War Office to hold the Turks back from Persia and the Indian
frontier". In his unpublished memoir, the original of which is kept in
the Australian War Memorial, Captain--later Lieutenant-General--Stanley
George Savige wrote:
The unfortunate women folk were so overcome at the sight of the first
party of British that they wept aloud. They would call down upon us
the blessings of God and rush across and kiss our hands and boots
in very joy at the sight of their first deliverance from the cruel
raids of the Turks. We could not save them all ... with lumps in our
throats we ignored the cries of the helpless in our endeavour to save
as many as we could.
In a 1919 interview with Sydney's Sunday Times, Captain J. M. Sorrell,
M.M., said:
It was almost a hopeless task as the road for a hundred mile was
thick with refugees. The suffering was very great, and in spite
of all that our people could do thousands succumbed to starvation,
disease and exhaustion. It was a ghastly business, and the trail was
well marked with bodies of human beings and all kinds of animals
The crux of this debate is the individual and collective right to
memory. Since when is remembering the past hate speech? Is it hate
speech to speak of the Aboriginal resistance to British colonisation of
Australia? Is it recalling hatreds, real or imagined, to commemorate
the Shoah, the Jewish Genocide, or Timorese or Papuan suffering under
the Japanese in World War II? Historical debate often involves offence
being taken by individuals, especially when entrenched positions
are being undermined. When the Armenian genocide commemorations can
be openly held within the Republic of Turkey, it is conciliation,
not "ideological and religious hatred" that is being fostered. The
mayor of the major city of Diyarbekir in the country's south-cast
invited Armenians and Assyrians to return to the city built by their
ancestors to attend a commemoration on 23 April this year in the city's
Metropolitan Municipality Theatre. In closing, I quote the Premier
of our great State, the Hon. Barry O'Farrell, MP on the recognition
of the genocides of the Armenian, Assyrian and Hellenic Genocides:
"...such historical events is to ensure that, as a community, we work
to prevent any repeat of such incidents in the future."
http://www.aina.org/news/20130823110105.htm
Assyrian International News Agency AINA
Aug 23 2013
Australia (AINA) -- In a speech to the New South Wales Parliament
on Wednesday, August 21, 2013, the Rev Fred Nile said the following
to the Turkish Consul-General concerning Armenian, Assyrian and
Hellenic-Greek genocides:
Armenian, Assyrian And Greek Genocides
Reverend the Hon. FRED NILE [6.11 p.m.]: I wish to speak on the
genocide of the Indigenous Assyrian, Armenian and Hellenic Greek
populations of the Ottoman Empire. Part of this adjournment speech is a
response to the Hon. Charlie Lynn's previous adjournment speech. I take
this opportunity to clarify or go into more depth on the Australian
historical sources from which I have drawn my conclusions.
The term "genocide" was coined by Polish jurist Raphael Lemkin in 1943,
drawing heavily on the experiences of the Armenians, Assyrians and
Hellenic Greeks. As Lemkin stated in a radio broadcast on 23 December
1947, "History and the present are full of genocide cases.
Christians of various denominations, Moslems and Jews, Armenians
and Slavs, Greeks and Russians, dark skinned Hereros in Africa and
white skinned Poles perished by millions from this crime." Writing
in Gallipoli Mission two decades earlier, Charles W. Bean noted
"the attempts by some Turkish leaders to exterminate this people,
and the dreadful means used before and during the war".
Almost 300 Anzacs were taken prisoner by the Ottoman Empire during
World War I. Approximately 67 were captured around Anzac Cove. In
addition, there were the 30 crew members of the Australian submarine
HMAS AE2, which sunk on 30 April 1915, and approximately 200 others
from the battle fronts in Sinai, Palestine and Mesopotamia. There
are published and unpublished repatriated prisoner-of-war statements,
diaries and letters from Anzac records, witnessing and hearing about
atrocities committed against the Indigenous Hellenic Greek, Armenian
and Assyrian peoples of the Ottoman Empire. The diary of Private
Daniel Bartholomew Creedon of the 9th Battalion, AIF, is but one
example of material in the Australian War Memorial relating to the
genocides. Captured on Gallipoli on 28 June 1915, Creedon recorded
how in the Ankara region he was held at different rimes "in an old
Monastery" and "in the church". On 2 February 1916 Creedon made the
following entry:
The people say the Turks killed one and a quarter million Armenians.
Private Daniel Creedon died in Angora, or Ankara, on 27 February 1917,
aged 23 years. Without a known grave, he is commemorated on Memorial
49 in the Baghdad (North Gate) War Cemetery, Iraq. The Dunsterforce
was a small British army including 22 Australians that "was despatched
by the War Office to hold the Turks back from Persia and the Indian
frontier". In his unpublished memoir, the original of which is kept in
the Australian War Memorial, Captain--later Lieutenant-General--Stanley
George Savige wrote:
The unfortunate women folk were so overcome at the sight of the first
party of British that they wept aloud. They would call down upon us
the blessings of God and rush across and kiss our hands and boots
in very joy at the sight of their first deliverance from the cruel
raids of the Turks. We could not save them all ... with lumps in our
throats we ignored the cries of the helpless in our endeavour to save
as many as we could.
In a 1919 interview with Sydney's Sunday Times, Captain J. M. Sorrell,
M.M., said:
It was almost a hopeless task as the road for a hundred mile was
thick with refugees. The suffering was very great, and in spite
of all that our people could do thousands succumbed to starvation,
disease and exhaustion. It was a ghastly business, and the trail was
well marked with bodies of human beings and all kinds of animals
The crux of this debate is the individual and collective right to
memory. Since when is remembering the past hate speech? Is it hate
speech to speak of the Aboriginal resistance to British colonisation of
Australia? Is it recalling hatreds, real or imagined, to commemorate
the Shoah, the Jewish Genocide, or Timorese or Papuan suffering under
the Japanese in World War II? Historical debate often involves offence
being taken by individuals, especially when entrenched positions
are being undermined. When the Armenian genocide commemorations can
be openly held within the Republic of Turkey, it is conciliation,
not "ideological and religious hatred" that is being fostered. The
mayor of the major city of Diyarbekir in the country's south-cast
invited Armenians and Assyrians to return to the city built by their
ancestors to attend a commemoration on 23 April this year in the city's
Metropolitan Municipality Theatre. In closing, I quote the Premier
of our great State, the Hon. Barry O'Farrell, MP on the recognition
of the genocides of the Armenian, Assyrian and Hellenic Genocides:
"...such historical events is to ensure that, as a community, we work
to prevent any repeat of such incidents in the future."
http://www.aina.org/news/20130823110105.htm