Australian MPs Acknowledge Srebrenica Remembrance Day & Armenian Genocide

Australian MPs Acknowledge Srebrenica Remembrance Day & Armenian Genocide

By SONJA DECHIAN | Published: NOVEMBER 28, 2011

Australian Labor MP Michael Danby introduced a motion into the House of Representatives last week, acknowledging the events of the genocide at Srebrenica in 1995 and calling for every July 11 to be recognized as Srebrenica Remembrance Day. ‘Never again should the Adolf Hitlers be able to say of people in Srebrenica, in Dafur, in Rwanda, in Armenia: ‘Who remembers the Armenians? Who remembers the Rwandans? Who remembers the Bosnians?’’ Danby said. The motion was passed.

A number of other MPs raised the subject of the Armenian genocide in the Australian parliament. MPs Malcolm Turnbull, Craig Kelly and Joel Fitzgibbon paid tribute to the victims of the genocide, as members of the Armenian National Council of Australia visited the chamber for ANC Australia’s Advocacy Week. All emphasised the importance of affirming the historical reality of the genocide

Turnbull’s speech focused on the values of multiculturalism. ‘[We] lament what  was one of the great crimes against humanity, not  simply a crime against the Greeks, the Assyrians and  the Armenians but a crime against humanity—the  elimination, the execution, the murder of hundreds of  thousands;  of millions of people for no reason other  than that they were different … we must own up to it and we must recognize it for what it is,’ he said.

Other MP’s, including Joe Hockey and John Alexander, reaffirmed their support for recognition of the Armenian, Greek and Assyrian genocides, and called for official recognition.