TURKS FUMING OVER VICTORIAN GENOCIDE CLAIM
By Rick Wallace
Advertiser Adelaide, Australia
Queensland Sunday Mail, Australia
NEWS.com.au, Australia
May 17 2006
A LABOR MP of Greek descent who raised genocide allegations in
the Victorian parliament has sparked an international row with the
Turkish Government.
Turkey’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has warned backbencher Jenny
Mikakos against accusing Turkey of committing a “holocaust” comparable
to Adolf Hitler’s.
“This claim is just the distortion of historical facts,” it said
in a statement issued to The Australian yesterday that is likely to
infuriate the Greek Government and Greeks throughout the world.
“These baseless claims are counter-productive and in contrast with
co-operation and (the) dialogue spirit which we endeavour to develop
between Greece and Turkey.”
Ms Mikakos’s comments also incensed a fellow Labor MP, Michael
Leighton, who is the son of a holocaust survivor whose relatives died
in Hitler’s wartime slaughter of Jewish people.
The row started when Ms Mikakos called on Turkey to apologise for the
alleged killing of more than 350,000 Greeks in the so-called Pontian
genocide between 1916 and 1923.
“Unlike Germany, which has taken responsibility for the Jewish
holocaust, Turkey has never apologised to its victims,” she said.
Ms Mikakos defied Premier Steve Bracks’s efforts to quell the row
yesterday by releasing a statement repeating her accusations of
genocide, although she dropped any mention of the holocaust.
Labor sources said Mr Bracks privately “carpeted” Ms Mikakos for her
comments last week amid fears they would spark race-based bickering
within the party in the lead-up to the November election.
The two Labor MPs of Turkish descent in the parliament, John Eren and
Adem Somyurek, who interjected during her speech on May 4, refused to
fan the row yesterday, despite Ms Mikakos repeating the genocide claim.
“I raised the genocide of Pontic Greeks, Armenians and Assyrians in the
Victorian parliament in the lead-up to this Friday’s commemoration,”
she said.
“I have never vilified any community.”
Her comments relate to incidents during and after World War I,
a period when Turkey and Greece were fighting each other.
“Between 1916 and 1923 over 353,000 Pontic Greeks living in Asia Minor
and in Pontos, which is near the Black Sea, died as a result of the
20th century’s first but less known genocide,” she told parliament.
“Over a million Pontic Greeks were forced into exile. In the preceding
years, 1.5 million Armenians and 750,000 Assyrians in various parts
of Turkey also perished.
“Most victims died from exhaustion or dehydration on forced marches
or work in the so-called labour battalions.”
But the Turkish Government continues to deny that a holocaust involving
Pontian Greeks, Armenians or Assyrian Christians took place. “The
so-called Pontian genocide is devoid of historical basis,” the Foreign
Ministry told The Australian.
“We suggest that the Greek authorities and scholars evaluate the
historical events in an objective manner instead of coming forward
with these kind of allegations which would damage the Turkish-Greek
bilateral relations.”
The two countries have vastly improved their relationship in recent
years with Greece now supporting Turkey’s inclusion in the European
Union.
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