This year's Australian National Commemoration of the Armenian Genocide will feature statements from over 20 Federal and State parliamentarians from across the country, as Armenian-Australians commemorate the 107th Anniversary of the Ottoman Empire’s 1915 massacres of Armenians, Assyrians and Greeks, reported the Armenian National Committee of Australia (ANC-AU).
Their messages of solidarity will include an amplification of calls for Federal recognition of the Armenian, Assyrian and Greek Genocides, and will be broadcast on Tuesday 26 April 2022 at 8:00pm (AEST), via the Facebook (click here) and YouTube (click here) channels of Armenia Media.
Australia’s Minister for Communications, Urban Infrastructure, Cities and the Arts, Hon. Paul Fletcher MP and Shadow Minister for Home Affairs, Immigration and Citizenship, Senator Hon. Kristina Keneally will lead a long list of Federal parliamentarians with messages in solidarity with the Armenian Cause.
Leader of the Australian Greens Adam Bandt MP, Co-Chair of the Australia-Armenia Inter-Parliamentary Friendship Union Trent Zimmerman MP, Tim Wilson MP, Julian Leeser MP, Senator Janet Rice, Senator Eric Abetz, Steve Georganas MP, Mike Freelander MP and Jason Falinski MP, will also be among the Federal political leaders who will pay their respects on the 107th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.
New South Wales State Premier Dominic Perrottet will also feature in the National Commemoration broadcast, continuing the legacy set by his predecessors, who have consistently and appropriately addressed the Armenian-Australian community on this solemn occasion.
Perrottet will be joined by his state-based parliamentary colleagues, including co-convenors of the NSW Armenia-Australia Parliamentary Friendship Group, Jonathan O'Dea MP and Walt Secord MLC, along with Mark Coure MP, Damien Tudehope MLC, Victor Dominello MP, Hugh McDermott MP, Tanya Davies MP and Tim James MP.
“As a result of our community’s ongoing and persistent advocacy on this issue, every year we see a growing cohort of parliamentarians join our fight in calling for proper acknowledgement of the crimes committed against our ancestors and a willingness to guide Australia onto the pass of righteousness,” said ANC-AU Political Affairs Director, Michael Kolokossian, who will deliver the event’s Advocacy Address as part of the broadcast.
The National Armenian Genocide Commemoration event will be headlined by a special keynote feature highlighting the ongoing humanitarian crisis in the Republic of Artsakh as a result of the genocidal policies unleashed by Azerbaijan and Turkey.