Assyrian International News Agency AINA
\nSept 4 2010<\/p>\n
(AINA) — A number of Melbourne’s Assyrian and Hellenic organizations
\nissued a joint statement today condemning recent acts of vandalism
\nagainst two Sydney memorials dedicated to the Assyrian Genocide and
\nthe Assyrian Levies (AINA 8-30-2010). The six signatories included two
\nGreek federations and a number of Assyrian political, social and
\ncultural organizations. The six signatories to the letter affirmed
\ntheir opposition to all acts of vandalism and voiced a call for
\nworldwide recognition of the Assyrian, Armenian and Pontian-Greek
\nGenocide.<\/p>\n
The statement follows:<\/p>\n
We the undersigned Melbourne-based Assyrian and Greek organizations
\nexpress our deep concern at recent events which have seen two Assyrian
\nmemorial sites vandalised. Sydney’s Assyrian Genocide Monument
\n(recently dedicated by the Assyrian Universal Alliance) and the
\nAssyrian Levies Plaque (dedicated by the Assyrian Levies Association)
\nwere both vandalised with physical damage and the painting of
\nanti-Assyrian profanities in the preceding week.<\/p>\n
Both the mentioned monuments stand in tribute to millions of
\nAssyrians, Armenians and Pontian-Greeks who were ruthlessly murdered
\nin a calculated campaign of extermination by the Ottoman Empire.
\nHistorians have termed this the first genocide of the twentieth
\ncentury. The Assyrian-Australian community, like other communities
\nresiding in Australia, is entitled to remember these victims of
\ngenocide with dignity and without hindrance from vandals. We
\nexplicitly condemn the vandalism of the monument and memorial plaque
\nand call upon the relevant authorities to investigate the matter
\nhastily.<\/p>\n
While the perpetrators of both these incidents are as yet unknown, and
\npolice investigations are continuing, it is clear from the content of
\nthe vandalism, on the Assyrian Genocide Monument in particular, that
\nthose involved hold a strong level of enmity towards the Assyrian
\npeople.<\/p>\n
The struggle for the recognition of the Assyrian, Armenian and
\nPontian-Greek Genocide is a continuing one. The historical truth of
\nthe genocide is not in question, as suggested by the forces of
\ngenocide denial. The school of scholarly evidence is overwhelming. In
\nfact, the world’s leading group of genocide scholars, the
\nInternational Association of Genocide Scholars has affirmed that the
\nAssyrian, Armenian and Pontian-Greek was indeed perpetrated by the
\nOttoman Empire during its dying days. This recognition is in addition
\nto dozens of federal, state and local governments around the world who
\nhave also recognized the Assyrian, Armenian and Pontian- Greek
\ngenocide.<\/p>\n
We renew our call for worldwide recognition of the Assyrian, Armenian
\nand Pontian-Greek Genocide. In particular, we call upon the Australian
\nfederal government, in addition to state governments, to join their
\ncounterparts around the world and add their voice to truth and justice
\nby recognising the genocide.<\/p>\n
We the undersigned organisations extend our support to all
\norganizations that have contributed to the Assyrian Genocide
\nrecognition movement, affirm our rejection of acts designed to insult
\nthe memories of those who were murdered and condemn any attempt to
\ndistort the truth of the Assyrian, Armenian and Pontian Greek
\nGenocide.<\/p>\n
Australian Assyrian Arts and Literature Foundation
\nFederation of Pontian Associations of Australia
\nPanepirotic Federation of Australia
\nAssyrian Democratic Movement
\nThe Popular Chaldean Syriac Assyrian Council
\nBeth-Nahrin Cultural Club<\/p>\n
By Joseph Haweil<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Assyrian International News Agency AINA Sept 4 2010 (AINA) — A number of Melbourne’s Assyrian and Hellenic organizations issued a joint statement today condemning recent acts of vandalism against two Sydney memorials dedicated to the Assyrian Genocide and the Assyrian Levies (AINA 8-30-2010). The six signatories included two Greek federations and a number of Assyrian […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":774856,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[1557],"class_list":["post-21847","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-armenian-question","tag-disinformation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21847","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21847"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21847\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/774856"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}