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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2022-05-19 Daily Xml
Contents
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Motions

Asia Minor Genocide Remembrance Day

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Minister for Energy and Mining) (12:31): I move:

That this house—

(a) recognises 19 May as a Day of Remembrance for the genocide by the Ottoman State between 1915 and 1923 of Armenians, Hellenes, Assyrian and other minorities in Asia Minor;

(b) congratulates the International Association of Genocide Scholars and many other nations that have officially recognised the Armenians, Hellenes, Assyrian and other minorities were subjected to genocide at the hands of the Ottoman Turkish Military in Asia Minor;

(c) notes that this house officially recognised this genocide in 2009 by motion of the Hon Michael Atkinson;

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

(e) again condemns the genocide of Armenians, Pontian Greeks, Assyrian and other Christian minorities, and all other acts of genocide as the ultimate act of racial, religious and cultural intolerance as endorsed by this house in 2009; and

(f) calls on the Turkish Republic to accept responsibility for the genocide of 3.5 million in Asia Minor according to the International Association of Genocide Scholars, as many as 900,000 Hellenes of Asia Minor and Pontus, 1.5 million Armenians and 275,000 Assyrians, the displacement and suffering of millions more and calls on the Turkish Republic to finally apologise for this act of genocide it perpetuated beginning in 1915.

Today is the internationally recognised anniversary of the beginning of the world's first genocide, a genocide that saw the destruction of an entire ethnicity and culture of a peninsula that had been inhabited for hundreds if not thousands of years by many minorities. Those minorities were Greek Pontian, they were Assyrian, they were Kurdish, they were Armenian.

It is important that we remember that occasion and we remember it annually, and I have done so for most of the time that I have been in this parliament. Indeed, this was the first parliament to recognise that in Australia, I think, in 2009 when former Attorney-General, the Hon. Michael Atkinson, the member for the then seat of Spence, moved a motion to officially recognise that genocide.

The formation of the Young Turk movement in 1908 was a grim milestone in history. Under the pretext of national security an extreme nationalist party launched persecution of Christian communities, which was the precursor to the ‘Turkification of the peninsula’ between 1914 and 1923. The peninsula I am talking about of course is Asia Minor.

Reports of what occurred during this period in Asia Minor are horrific, and had it not been for independent US journalists who were stationed there reporting back to the US ambassador, who was then reporting back to Europe and American newspapers about what was occurring, we would not have known that 900,000 Greek Christians were murdered, 1.5 million Armenians were murdered and 275,000 Assyrians were murdered. In total, according to the International Association of Genocide Scholars, 3.5 million people were murdered—not soldiers, not people raising arms to fight under a banner of freedom, not people inciting revolt but civilians: children, women, men, aged, infirmed.

It was an organised plan to eliminate Christian minorities in Asia Minor, the very definition of ethnic cleansing. People were sold into slavery, sold into brothels, worked to death, marched to death. They were raped, they were tortured, they were murdered. Of those who survived, many were forced to flee and start new lives, like my wife's grandparents. They fled to the islands off the coast of Asia Minor, Lemnos, Lesbos, Kos and of course Cyprus. Those who fled to Lemnos were where the ANZACs staged their attack on Gallipoli. Of course, others fled to the city of Odessa on the other side of the Black Sea, which is currently again under peril from another person attempting to change history.

Of those who survived, many fled to other countries to start new lives. They fled to communities in Canada and Australia and Great Britain, and all over the world where Armenian, Assyrian, Lebanese and Greek populations reside. Today we remember. Since the genocide, there have been no war tribunals, no compensation for victims' families. This genocide continues to be unrecognised by the modern Turkish government. The Turkish government consider these atrocities merely as casualties of a war—indeed, they claim a war of aggression.

To prevent history from repeating itself, it is important we remember this event and recognise it as the genocide that it was. When plotting another genocide two decades later, Adolph Hitler remembered these murders and asked, 'Who still speaks of the Armenian slaughter?' in reference to what he had planned for the Jews of Europe. His rationale was to be as brutal as possible with his ethnic cleansing because no-one talks of the Armenians anymore.

If we do not speak out today, what happened 100 years ago in Asia Minor can occur again. Unfortunately, nationalist tensions around the world are rising again. My mother-in-law's family were refugees from Asia Minor who fled to the island of Lesbos, as I said earlier, at the exchange of populations. My children are descendants of those who fled Asia Minor. My paternal grandfather, George Koutsantonis, was staged in the Royal Hellenic Army in the city of Smyrna, which is now Izmir, which was subject to some horrific battles and slaughter.

It always moves me when I go to the Pontian brotherhood and hear the songs and see the costumes that are worn. Every time those costumes are worn by those children and those songs are sung, remember that it was the view of the Young Turks and Ataturk that those songs never be sung again, that they be erased forever from human memory, erased as an existence.

That is why it is important that we make these community grants to build memorials to remember, to help fund the costumes to support the dancing and the culture. It is not just about enjoying your culture, it is about remembering what they were subjected to. The day of 19 May will always be remembered and continue to be remembered hopefully throughout Australia, Canada and the world as a day of mourning for all who suffered at the brutal and murderous hands of the Turkish military.

I also point out that the Turkish civilians of the that peninsula were also victims. This was not a brutal uprising initiated by the local populations. They had coexisted for generations, hundreds of years, mosque alongside church sharing together their existence, completely natural for families of different faiths to live alongside each other until a nationalist movement decided that could no longer exist and attempted to radicalise an entire country.

The idea that Asia Minor now has no operating Christian churches is appalling and it should be remembered. We see now today in Northern Cyprus the same attempt to erase that history, again against the wishes of the indigenous Turkish Cypriot communities and the Greek Cypriot communities who coexisted and shared power for such a long time. Indeed, I know from my visits to Cyprus and my engagement with Cyprus that the Turkish Cypriot community is very supportive of the Greek Cypriot position on Northern Cyprus.

Until we acknowledge the mistakes of the past, we really cannot move forward, and we have seen it in Germany. The modern German state recognised the atrocities of the past and have moved forward to become one of the most prosperous, industrial, progressive nations in the world. They remember the past. They accept responsibility for the past. They do not try to cover up the past.

I truly believe it is in the best interests of the modern Turkish state to accept and acknowledge this genocide. No-one is asking for an exchange of populations again. No-one is asking for changes to borders. What we are asking for is an acknowledgment of a wrong, of a crime. There is no-one left to hold to account: they have died. There is no-one left but us.

I hope that the house can find its way to support this motion and remember the past so that we never repeat the mistakes again in the future and that we honour all minorities and everyone's right to exist and express their faith freely no matter who they are, where they live or where they were born.

Mr PISONI (Unley) (12:42): Firstly, may I congratulate the member for West Torrens on his diligent pursuit of this issue in this parliament because he is absolutely right: it is so important that we never forget and that we support those who lost their lives in such a tragic and horrific manner. Every year since I have been here, I can recall that we have discussed this motion in this house, and it is important that we do so because we can never forget, and we do want to make a difference. It is a small difference in South Australia, but it will make a difference over time.

I was very keen to learn more about this genocide when first learning about it in this chamber because of the work of the member for West Torrens and the former member for Croydon. Turkey, of course, has resisted widespread calls for the genocide to be recognised while historians continue to argue about the events.

At the time, there were numerous reports of Turkish atrocities committed against Armenians and Hellenics. There is general agreement that hundreds of thousands of Armenians and Hellenics died when the Ottoman Turks deported them en masse from Eastern Anatolia and across the Ottoman Empire to the Syrian Desert and elsewhere in 1915-1916. They were killed or died from starvation or disease. Foreign witnesses, including journalists, missionaries and diplomats, reported the atrocities. The total number of dead is disputed, but Armenians say about 1.5 million died and the republic of Turkey estimate that the total would be about 300,000, despite them claiming that the genocide never happened, so there is an interesting contrast.

According to the International Association of Genocide Scholars, or the IAGS, the death toll was more than one million. In a 2005 letter to Turkey's then Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the IAGS said:

We want to underscore that it is not just Armenians who are affirming the Armenian Genocide but it is the overwhelming opinion of scholars who study genocide…

So what is genocide? Article 2 of the United Nations Convention on Genocide of December 1948 describes genocide as 'carrying out acts intended to destroy in whole or in part a national ethnic, racial or religious group'. The question went on to ask: were the killings systematic? The dispute about whether it was genocide centres on the question of premeditation, the degree to which the killings were orchestrated. Many historian governments and the Armenian people believe that they were, but a number of scholars question this.

Raphael Lemkin, the Polish Jewish lawyer, who coined the term 'genocide', in 1943 referred to the atrocities against Armenians, as well as the Nazi massacres of Jews, when describing his investigations. Turkish officials accept that atrocities were committed, but argue that they were not systematic and were not an attempt to destroy Christian Armenian people.

Turkey says that many Muslim Turks also died in the turmoil of war. Of course we have often heard the term in politics 'Young Turks', but I certainly would not want to be described as a Young Turk. It was an officers' movement that seized power in 1908 and launched a series of measures against Armenians as the Ottoman Empire was crumbling through the military defeats of war. The Young Turks, calling themselves the Committee of Unity and Progress (CUP), had entered the war on Germany's side in 1914.

Turkish propaganda at the time presented Armenians as saboteurs and pro-Russian ‘fifth column’. Armenians marked the date, 24 April 1915, as the start of what they regarded as genocide. This is when the Ottoman government arrested about 250 Armenian intellectuals and community leaders, who were later then executed. Armenians in the Ottoman army were disarmed and killed, and Armenian property was confiscated. Who was held to account? Several senior Ottoman officials were put on trial in Turkey in 1919 and 1920 in connection with the atrocities.

A local governor, Mehmed Kemal, was found guilty and hanged for the mass killing of Armenians in the central Anatolian district of Yozgat. The Young Turks top trio, the ‘three pashas’, had already fled abroad, but they were sentenced to death in absentia. Historians have questioned the judicial process of these trials, the quality of evidence presented and the degree to which Turkish authorities may have wished to appease the victorious allies; in other words, many other people got away with it. They were simply show trials, people were singled out, but many others got away with it.

The latest world leader to recognise the Armenian genocide was US President Joe Biden on 24 April last year at the 106th anniversary of the killings. America hosts the largest Armenian diaspora after Russia, estimated to be more than a million people. The European parliament and the UN Sub-Commission on the Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities have also recognised atrocities as genocide.

Turkey reacted angrily after Pope Francis called it the first genocide of the 20th century in the run-up to the centenary commemorations. Turkey recalled its Vatican ambassador and accused the Pope of having discriminated about people suffering. The Pope overlooked atrocities that Turks and Muslims suffered in World War I, and only highlighted the Christian suffering, especially that of the Armenian people, the Turkish foreign ministry said, of course completely missing the point. France has a large Armenian diaspora, and since 2019 has officially commemorated the Armenian genocide as the 24th of April, including a ceremony at the Paris monument.

The killings are regarded as a seminal event of modern Armenian history, binding the diaspora together. Armenians are one of the world's most dispersed people. In Turkey, public debate on the issue has been stifled. Article 301 of the penal code on ‘insulting Turkishness’ has been issued to prosecute prominent writers who highlight the mass killings of Armenians. The European Union has said Turkish acceptance of the Armenian genocide is not a condition of Turkey entering into the bloc. I believe this is wrong. I think that they must have to concede that it happened.

To this day, Armenia and Turkey have no official diplomatic ties. After decades of hostility, there was a slight thaw, but since 2009 there has been no real rapprochement. That is why it is important that we support this motion. I thank the member for West Torrens for bringing it once again to this place to remind all of us and our communities, through the community representation that is represented here today, about a genocide that many people are still not aware of.

The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON (Ramsay—Minister for Tourism, Minister for Multicultural Affairs) (12:50): I rise to support this motion. I did not know about this genocide until 10 years ago when I became the member for Ramsay. The reason it was brought to my attention is that the Greek Orthodox Church in Salisbury Plains, St Demetrios, recognises this genocide with a service every year.

Father Chris, much loved in the Salisbury area and the wider Greek community, reminds us about this part of history, a part of history that we are not taught about and a part of history that impacted people's lives and caused trauma for many generations. As the member for West Torrens said, if we do not talk about this, if we do not accept it, we are bound to repeat this again. We see more and more leaders coming forward who seek to divide us, to talk about our differences rather than the shared humanity we have.

Not only do we have this yearly service to recognise the genocide but we have a statue in the Spains Road cemetery that recognises the genocide. Every year after the service, with the showing of wreaths and a prayer, we acknowledge and recognise those who lost their lives. I understand that was supported by a previous Labor government. This is an opportunity for us to reflect on the fact that this is still happening and that we must speak up in our democratic parliaments to recognise that when this is repeated we cannot allow people to rule without the voice of the people being recognised because, at the end of the day, we all suffer.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Minister for Energy and Mining) (12:52): I thank my colleagues for their support and thank the member for Unley. I thank the parliament for what I think will be a unanimous resolution to recognise this genocide again this year and memorialise those who lost their lives unnecessarily and innocently. I wish to thank the house for suspending its standing orders to allow us to do this to make sure that it is done on the day that is commemorated internationally.

I give this pledge to the Pontian community of South Australia: I will continue to do this every year that I am here. The years that I am not here, I am sure my colleagues, whoever they are, across the chamber will rise up and do the same for me in my absence, because we will not forget until this is recognised internationally, especially by those who perpetrated it.

Motion carried.

Sitting suspended from 12:54 to 14:00.

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