Australian Parliament to Debate Armenian Genocide for First Time

• 06.25.2018, 15:43
•  World,  Armenia

yerevan.today

Australia’s House of Representatives will debate, for the first time, a Motion to recognise the Armenian Genocide through the prism of Australia’s first major international humanitarian relief effort on Monday 25th June, 2018, the Armenian National Committee of Australia (ANC-AU) reports.

The Motion, which is being moved by Trent Zimmerman (MP for North Sydney) and seconded by John Alexander (MP for Bennelong), proposes Australia recognises, among other things, “the extraordinary humanitarian efforts of the then newly formed Commonwealth of Australia for the orphans and other survivors of the Armenian Genocide, as well as the other Christian minorities of the Ottoman Empire including Greeks and Assyrians”.

The Motion has been supported by Members of the Coalition government as well as the Australian Labor Party, led by the Co-Chairs of the Australia-Armenia Inter-Parliamentary Union Friendship Group Co-Chairs, Zimmerman (LIB) and Joel Fitzgibbon (ALP - MP for Hunter).

ANC-AU Executive Director, Haig Kayserian explained that Armenian-Australians were hoping the debate will portray a favourable reflection of the will of Australia to “recognise an important and proud chapter in Australia’s history that has been kept under wraps for too long due to a foreign dictatorship’s gag order on the Government’s accurate characterisation of Armenian Genocide”.