TENSE STAND-OFF AS HAKAN HARMAN, CHIEF OF RACIAL HARMONY, ADMITS INFLAMING ETHNIC ANGER
Sydney Morning Herald, Australia
Feb 16 2015
Date February 16, 2015 – 7:17PM
Rick Feneley
Hakan Harman, apologised for issuing guidelines without consultation.
Ethnic leaders demand sacking of Multicultural NSW boss
The chief executive of the state body created to promote racial harmony
has apologised for inflaming anger among ethnic communities when he
issued guidelines that could have curtailed public memorials to war
crimes and atrocities.
But the Minister for Citizenship and Communities, Victor Dominello,
has drawn fire from rival sides in the bitter debate – both for
refusing to sack the head of Multicultural NSW, Hakan Harman, but
also for forcing him to withdraw the guidelines.
The Australian Turkish Advocacy Alliance, which had joined with a
Japanese group to urge Mr Harman to adopt the guidelines, claims
Mr Dominello “is clearly under the immense pressure of some of the
powerful lobby groups, including the Armenian lobby, and in fear of
nothing but losing votes in an election year”.
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The alliance rejects the word “genocide” to describe the deaths
of Armenian, Assyrians and Greeks under the Ottoman Empire. And it
rejects the assertion by leaders from these and the Cypriot and Korean
communities that it was seeking to “airbrush” history by restricting
public memorials in NSW.
Mr Dominello refused to sack Mr Harman, a Turkish Australian, on
Monday afternoon when he met leaders of the Armenian, Assyrian and
Greek communities. He invoked Anzac Day and said he did not want the
controversy to overwhelm the centenary commemorations, according to
the chief executive of the Armenian National Committee of Australia,
Vache Kahramanian.
Mr Dominello told them to lodge their complaint and that due process
must be followed.
Mr Harman, a Turkish Australian, admitted he should have conducted
extensive community consultation before issuing the guidelines.
“This did not occur and for that I sincerely apologise,” he said in
a statement. “The guidelines were intended to provide advice and
guidance on issues relating to historical commemoration of events
and not to inflame concerns or upset anyone.”
He would invite the angered communities to meet him.
But the Turkish alliance said: “We have seen in recent years that some
lobby groups, which are trademarked with their anti-Turkey causes,
are damaging the multicultural harmony exists in NSW by bringing some
unresolved political conficts with them.”
It said one of its roles was to “advocate against turning foreign
historical conflicts into a political football in Australia”.
The guidelines it and the Japanese Community Network proposed to Mr
Harman had “aimed to prevent these powerful lobby groups to use their
political power to waste public funds by using the government funds
or land for their political aims”.
The alliance claimed it had the support of the Indian community and
the previous leadership of the Ethnic Communities Council of NSW –
an assertion denied by the ECC late on Monday.
The Labor spokesman for citizenship and communities, Guy Zangari, said:
“It’s time for Mr Dominello to come out of the shadows and clean up
this mess.”
The chairman of the Multicultural NSW advisory board, Harry Harinath,
said it was determined to promote “peace and harmony” and welcomed
the move to wider consultation with communities.
A spokesman for Mr Dominello said: “The purpose of today’s meeting
was to consult with relevant community leaders, hear their concerns
and resolve a way forward that will ensure community harmony.”