Sydney Morning Herald (Australia)
December 16, 2009 Wednesday
First Edition

Fears ‘genocide’ memorial could cause split

by Amy Corderoy and Ellie Harvey

MORE than 200 members of Sydney’s Turkish and Assyrian communities,
separated by riot police, shouted threats and abuse outside the
Fairfield Council offices last night after the council approved plans
for a monument commemorating what was called the Assyrian genocide.

At least 40 riot police stood between the two groups as the council
considered plans for the first ever Australian memorial to Assyrians
killed by Turkish forces during World War I and subsequent conflicts.

A local group, calling itself the Assyrian Universal Alliance, had
proposed to build a 4.5-metre-high memorial to victims of the Assyrian
genocides in a reserve under construction opposite Bonnyrigg Park.
However, the move is bitterly opposed by the local Turkish community,
which disagrees with the Assyrians’ interpretation of the past.

At least 100 Turkish Australians bearing signs critical of the
proposal gathered at the front of the council building while at least
as many Assyrians draped in Assyrian and Armenian flags stood on the
other side.

At 7.30pm the council voted to approve the monument, producing a
spontaneous outburst by the Assyrians. "Winner, winner, winner – thank
you Australia," one jubilant Assyrian said.

A Turkish protester Gokhan Tugcu, 25, said the monument was divisive
and should never have been allowed. "Australia, being a multicultural
society shouldn’t have things like this that divide the different
cultures that live here. [It’s] a statue now, it could be in the
school curriculum later on," Mr Tugcu said.

As the crowd left the council emotions grew. One man standing with the
Turkish group called out "Ottomans" and slid his fingers across his
throat.

Hermiz Shahen, the deputy secretary of the Assyrian Alliance, said
that the monument was never intended as an insult.

"If you respect the ANZACS, you are not insulting the Turkish people,"
he said. "We just want to erect a monument to respect the victims of
genocide". But local resident, Adem Cetinay, who has a Turkish
background, believes that the memorial is already causing a split.

"We’re dividing the community and that has never happened before," he said.

Within two days of hearing about the proposed memorial, Mr Cetinay
obtained more than 800 signatures for a petition opposing it.

"If it goes ahead, our kids are going to grow up here with this
monument in their faces," he said. The Local Government Association of
NSW has formally recognised that genocide was perpetrated against the
Assyrians since World War I.

But neither the NSW Government nor the Federal Government have come to
the same conclusion.