The Arab Council of Australia has added its voice to the campaign
calling on Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s government to recognise the
Armenian Genocide.
The council is a secular, not-for-profit organisation representing
Australians from 22 Middle Eastern countries. Its CEO Randa Kattan said
in a letter to Mr Morrison, “The act of formally recognising events of
mass atrocity as experienced by the victims affords them dignity.”
She continued, “This acknowledgement of history supports the
healing of a community and is inclusive of those many generations living
with inherited trauma.”
Between 1893 and 1923, some 1.5 million Armenians were killed in the
Ottoman Empire in a policy of extermination of Christian minorities. In
addition some 2.25 million Assyrian, Greek and Syriac Christians were
also killed within Ottoman territories between 1914 and 1923, making a
total of 3.75 million Christians killed.
The Australian-Jewish community
has increased calls on the governments of Australia and Israel to
recognise the terrible slaughter of a century ago. “It is our moral
duty as Jews and as supporters of Israel to be tellers of truth in
matters such as these,” said Jeremy Leibler, president of the Zionist
Federation of Australia.
In a statement on Armenian Remembrance Day, 24 April, this year, US President Joe Biden
became the first president of the United States to officially recognise
the genocide and warned of the need to prevent such violence from
happening again.
Dr Patrick Sookhdeo, International Director of Barnabas Fund, wrote
to President Biden and UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson earlier this year
urging them to make this recognition, and called on countries such as
Australia, New Zealand and Israel to follow suit.
Please sign our Barnabas Fund petition calling for the UK government to recognise the genocide by going to www.barnabasfund.org/armenian-genocide/
Related Countries
Armenia
