GENOCIDE RECOGNITION (GREECE – AUSTRALIA – ARMENIA – TURKEY)

American Chronicle
s/view/102121
May 12 2009

Australian Macedonian Advisory Council May 11, 2009 On 30 April 2009,
the South Australian lower house did a remarkable thing; it recognised
the genocide of the Christian peoples of Anatolia during the Ottoman
Empire. The full text of the motion that was passed is as follows:

"That, whereas the genocide by the Ottoman state between 1915-1923
of Armenians, Hellenes, Syrian and other minorities in Asia Minor
is one of the greatest crimes against humanity, the people of South
Australia and this House –

(a) join the members of the Armenian-Australian, Pontian
Greek-Australian and Syrian-Australian communities in honouring the
memory of the innocent men, women and children who fell victim to
the first modern genocide;

(b) condemns the genocide of the Armenians, Pontian Greeks, Syrian
Orthodox and other Christian minorities, and all other acts of genocide
as the ultimate act of racial, religious and cultural intolerance;

(c) recognises the importance of remembering and learning from such
dark chapters in human history to ensure that such crimes against
humanity are not allowed to be repeated;

(d) condemns and prevents all attempts to use the passage of time to
deny or distort the historical truth of the genocide of the Armenians
and other acts of genocide committed during this century;

(e) acknowledges the significant humanitarian contribution made by
the people of South Australia to the victims and survivors of the
Armenian Genocide and the Pontian Genocide; and

(f) calls on the commonwealth parliament officially to condemn the
genocide."

Noting in passing that the Assyrian community has been misdescribed
as ´Syrian,´ a grave error that will hopefully be rectified, this
recognition of the genocide of the Christian peoples of Anatolia
forms a historic landmark in the history of the Armenian-Australian,
Assyria-Australian and Greek-Australian people. This is not a political
or ethnic victory, for we are thankfully not enmeshed within the
warp and the weft of the greater geo-strategic and political games
played by the representatives of our mother countries. This is not a
victory of diplomats, who for the most part shy away from agitating
publicly on what we term to be "national issues." Most importantly,
this act of recognition is balsam applied to the unhealed wound in
the souls of genocide victims and their descendants. The Australian
historical narrative often tends to ignore the socio-political events
that its migrant populations have experienced. Yet these events,
often traumatic, inform these Australian´s world-view. The opinions
and emotions forged during such times have been transplanted to this
country and often, passed down the generations. Horrific international
experiences such as the Holocaust or the Genocide are thus pertinent
to this country because they have affected, directly or indirectly,
a portion of the Australian community.

South Australian Attorney General Michael Atkinson was thus entirely
correct when he stated in his speech: "We should support the
motion to recognise the Armenian, Pontian Greek, Syrian Orthodox,
(sic) Nestorian and Assyrian communities who flourish in Australia
today. The Republic of Turkey, having dispersed these people to the
point of the globe farthest from Anatolia, can hardly complain that,
in the freedom of the Antipodes, they perpetuate the memory of their
ancestors and their culture. These Australians–and I remind Senator
Ferguson that they are Australians with the full right of citizenship
to talk about topics that Senator Ferguson considers too ancient
and too controversial–came to Australia from countries, including
Palestine, Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon, where they had settled
after the genocide."

The Leader of the South Australian Opposition, Martin Hamilton Smith
also spoke upon the relevance of the empirical and personal connection:
"As a man married to a Greek, with a son who is half Greek, who is
Orthodox, this has very much touched me and my family. Let there be
no doubt in the mind of any South Australian about my view and the
view of the state Liberals of these terrible and tragic events."

Further, through the international treaties it has signed, Australia
has cast itself as a democratic, humanitarian country, that abjures
all forms of totalitarian terror, it is a humanitarian victory for
all Australians who still believe in the democratic process and
principled politicians. As John Rau, Member for Enfield stated: "The
fact that this motion is before the parliament, the fact that we are
debating this matter and we are talking about this matter is at least
some modest way that we as legislators in what is, after all, only a
provincial parliament–I should not really say that here, should I,
but that is what we are–can make some contribution to raising public
awareness, both of the terrible circumstances of this particular
conflict, but also of the fact that these conflicts can and do and
will occur again unless people are aware of these issues and take
intelligent, statesmanlike solutions to these problems to hand." The
Member for Fisher, R B Such, went further, courageously acknowledging
his own battles as a child, in coming to terms with tolerance, before
stating: "We cannot afford to sit back and do nothing. We need to
ensure that we are ever vigilant and that we promote tolerance and
empathy, particularly amongst our children, so that we rid the world
and ourselves of the evil that can be reflected in the sort of genocide
and intolerance that is highlighted in this motion today."

The debate in the SA parliament on the Genocide thus underlies just
how principled its politicians are. Some of the debate centred on a
few comments published in the Diatribe a few weeks ago, about Senator
Ferguson´s denial of the historical authenticity of the Pontian
Genocide. In particular, the Diatribe had opined: "Playing ethnic
politics is a dirty game that threatens to shatter social harmony quite
a good deal more easily than referring to or interpreting historical
events. The fact of the matter is that Australia’s communities of
diverse backgrounds have proven that they can co-exist peacefully in
fruitful collaboration and ties of friendship because of our joint
commitment to multicultural Australia. No cynical, irresponsible
or misguided attempt to score points or votes off the back of any
arbitrarily chosen ethnic group should ever be permitted to bear the
bitter fruit of discord."

It appears that this was the guiding principle of all the politicians
who spoke on the motions, from both major parties, though I regret the
misguided attempt in Parliament to use this quote to accuse others
of ´using´ ethnics as pawns in a broader political game. This
notwithstanding, it was gratifying in the extreme to witness these
politicians quote extensively from the research of Dr Panayiotis
Diamandis, Thea Halo´s famous book "Not without My Name," William
Dalrymple´s "From the Holy Mountain," and even from primary sources
such as the archives of the Greek government: "The government of
Ankara decided that the Greeks of the regions of Atabazar and Kaltras,
first, and later the Greeks of the Pontos , would be slaughtered
and eliminated. He assigned Yavur Ali to burn down a Greek village
which is near Geive and to kill all of its inhabitants. The tragedy
lasted two days. The village, with its 12 factories and its nice
buildings became a dump site. Ninety per cent of the population were
slaughtered and burnt. The few who were able to escape in order to save
their lives went to the mountains. In order to preserve his Chets ,
Mustafa Kemal had to find an area which he could attack."

The extensive references to the actual historical events and their
effects prove that these politicians are not motivated by political
expediency in the recognition of the Genocide. Indeed, they have
nothing to gain politically from doing so. Instead, through their own
research and critical faculties, they have become convinced that the
Genocide of the Christian peoples of Anatolia is a historical fact
that needs to be recognised at a formal level. All of them ought to
be commended for this, especially in the face of vociferous protest
by the Turkish consular authorities. I am informed, though I have
not seen a copy of the relevant letter, that the Australian Foreign
Minister has written to the Attorney General of South Australia,
stating that it is not the Federal Government´s policy to recognise
the Genocide. Perhaps the Australian government should take a leaf
out of the enlightened South Australian parliament´s book and pass
resolutions based on fact and not Realpolitik.

The president of the Federation of Pontian Organisations of Australia,
Harry Tavlarides, the alternate president, Panagiotis Jasonides and
many others have worked tirelessly over the years, not to politicise
the issue, but to firstly raise awareness of the Genocide among the
Pontian and broader Greek community, then to liaise and co-ordinate
commemoration events with the Armenian and Assyrian communities
(and indeed, it was this diametric move away from isolationist
activities and the placing of the Pontian Genocide into the broader
context of the fate of other Christian nations in the same region,
that arguably allowed the issue of recognition raise itself from the
quagmire of obscurity,) and finally, to present the facts to members
of Parliament and have them make up their own mind.

In many ways, the whole campaign for Genocide Recognition has
its inception in Federation member, Central Pontian Association
"Pontiaki Estia´s" Pontian Genocide Workshops. The brainchild of
Litsa Athanasiadis and George Papadopoulos, these have run for almost
a decade now, having transmogrified into the cultural and theatrical
annual "Seed" event at the Clocktower Centre in Moonee Ponds. Neos
Kosmos has also played a prominent role in raising awareness of
the Genocide and calling for its recognition through its frequent
articles on the topic over the years and of this, and the fact that
South Australian parliamentarians: "draw the attention of the house to
an article in Neos Kosmos , described by some as Australia’s leading
Greek newspaper and the largest ABC audited ethnic publication,"
we should all be very proud. As one member of the Pontian Federation
remarked to me: "I was told a few years back by some first generation
leaders of the Pontian community that there was absolutely no way
that the Pontian Genocide would ever be recognised in Australia. Now
look how far we have come." We have come thus far, because of the
grass roots support of a broad swathe of the Australian community,
carefully informed, and despite the politicking of most of our
parochial community organizations.

In a sense, I sympathise with members of the Turkish community who will
feel enraged at the South Australian Parliament´s recognition. After
all, they, just like us, share nationalistic myths about the destiny
and character of their race. They, just like us, have been brought
up to think that there race is noble, just, courteous and of great
benefit to mankind. An official recognition of the genocide shatters
such myths just as it calls them into question. As a corollary, why
does official Greek historiography skim over the massacre of innocent
Turks during the taking of Tripolitsa, or the atrocities committed
by the Greek army in Asia Minor? Simply because the Greek people are
also, to some extent, informed by the same nation-building myths. What
the recognition teaches the Turkish community, as well as us, is
that crimes against humanity are not committed by races. They are
committed by human beings, and it is those human beings, not their
race, creed or colour that are to be condemned. It is degrading
to defend the indefensible and we should all be possessed of the
conviction to uphold what is right and denounce the wrong, regardless
of our kinship with its perpetrator

The recognition of the Genocide should thus not be viewed as the
ascendancy of one ´ethnic´ lobby over another. It is justice
achieved, a little victory for a people downtrodden and crushed
into the dust. All that remains therefore, as we pay respect to
their memory, is to echo the laudable sentiments of the Honourable
Michael Ferguson: "Rest eternal, grant unto them, Oh Lord, and may
light perpetual shine upon them. May they rest in peace and rise in
glory." Βμήν.