Australia Archives

Politician with Armenian roots is appointed Australian ambassador to US

January 29, 2016 by administrator

aaad Joseph Benedict “Joe” Hockey on Thursday presented his credentials to President Barack Obama as the new Australian Ambassador to the United States.

The newly appointed ambassador is of Armenian descent, as his father is a Palestine Armenian.

His father’s original surname, Hokeidonian, was anglicized to “Hockey” in 1948 after arriving in Australia.

Hockey, 50, was the Member of Parliament from 1996 until 2015.

He was the Treasurer of Australia in the Tony Abbott Government.

He previously served as the Minister for Human Services and Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations in the John Howard Government.

Australia hosts discussions on Genocide, Karabakh conflict

December 4, 2015 by administrator

Australian parliament hosted on December 1-2 meetings and discussions on recognition of the Armenian Genocide and settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.

The discussions were initiated by the Karabakh Permanent Representation to Australia and the ARF Armenian National Committee of Australia.

Leader of the Karabakh National Assembly’s Dashnaktsutyun faction David Ishkhanyan, the NKR Permanent Representative to Australia Kailar Mikayelian, and representatives of the Armenian National Committee of Australia participated in the meetings.

At the meetings, Ishkhanyan and Mikayelian briefed the MPs on the war unleashed by Azerbaijan against Artsakh, state-building process in the Republic, the peaceful settlement of the conflict between Azerbaijan and Karabakh, as well as current developments in the country.

In his speech, Australian MP John Alexander touched upon the settlement of the conflict between Azerbaijan and Karabakh and the 24th anniversary of Artsakh’s independence, further stressing: “Today, Karabakh has got a democratic system, a government, a parliament, observing human rights and freedom of the press, which is completely the opposite of the neighboring Azerbaijan”.

During the meetings the importance of the visit of the Australian MPs to Artsakh in the near future was also touched upon; it was stressed that the visit will allow them to get firsthand information about Artsakh’s achievements and the country’s daily life.

Armenian Genocide commemorated in Australian town

November 13, 2015 by administrator

A commemoration event dedicated to the Armenian Genocide centennial was held in the “Beauchaur Park” of Willoughby, Australia, bringing together representatives of the local Armenian community.
At the ceremony led by the the city’s mayor and Bishop Yepiskopos Nazaaryan, the prelate of the Armenian Apostolic Church’s diocese in Australia and New Zealand, an Armenian khachkar (cross-stone) was unveiled to eternalize the memory of the big tragedy’s victims.
According to a press release by the Yerevan City Hall, a friendship agreement between the administrative district Nor Nor and the Australian city was signed later the same day. It is the Yerevan municipality’s first cooperation effort with an Australian town.

Australian Citizen Len Wicks urges country’s PM to acknowledge Armenian Genocide

September 18, 2015 by administrator

Len Wicks, During 100 year Armenian Genocide commemoration, Yerevan, Armenia

Len Wicks, an Australian citizen working for the UN and the author of “Origins: Discovery,” addressed a letter to the new Australian PM Malcolm Turnbull with the request to acknowledge the Genocide of Armenians, Assyrians and Greeks, committed in the Ottoman Empire.

In the letter, Wicks noted that he had already addressed the MPs concerning that issue. Moreover, the ex-PM also made a statement on recognizing the Armenian Genocide in 2013, but failed to have the courage to raise the issue during his tenure as Prime Minister.

Wicks took part in the Armenian Genocide Centenary events in Yerevan, and was ashamed “that Australia and New Zealand failed to send even a representative that day, but instead went to be with Turkey”

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Australian Parliamentarian Slams Azerbaijan on Human Rights and Karabakh in Federal Parliament

September 16, 2015 by administrator

Australian Federal Parliament member for Bennelong, Australia, John Alexander (Source: ANC Australia)

CANBERRA—Federal parliament member for Bennelong, Australia, John Alexander has delivered a blistering speech on the floor of Australian parliament after meeting with a visiting Azeribaijani parliament member, condemning Azerbaijan’s ongoing disregard for human rights and peace in Nagorno-Karabakh, the Armenian National Committee of Australia (ANC Australia) reports.

His statement was delivered following a meeting – in his capacity as Chair of the House Standing Committee on Economics – with Azerbaijani parliament member Khanlar Fatiyev, who is visiting Australia as part of an official Azeribaijani Parliamentary delegation.

After attacking Azerbaijan’s capture of human rights activists, Alexander said: “I also raised my strong concerns about Azerbaijan’s actions in the on-going dispute with Armenia in Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijan has invested over $1 billion in armored vehicles and artillery in the past few years, making a mockery of any supposed desire for peace in the region.”

He added: “As we commemorate the centenary of the commencement of the Armenian Genocide it is essential for us as community leaders to call out persecution, and to stress to trading partners like Azerbaijan the importance of protecting human rights and political freedoms for all.”

ANC Australia’s Executive Director, Vache Kahramanian remarked: “John Alexander today spoke truthfully and powerfully on the true character of Azerbaijan. That country has spent billions around the world in an attempt to showcase itself as a democracy but actions speak louder than words.”

“Australia is a country built on the rule of law and on the fundamental respect for human rights. Azerbaijan has continued to be a blatant violator of human rights, ranking poorly in global rankings for consecutive years. Its ongoing aggression towards Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh have further added to its sorry state of affairs,” Kahramanian added.

“Mr. Alexander has had a long track record of setting the record straight in the Australian Parliament on such important matters. Australia has been well served by this distinguished leader who speaks openly and honestly on such important matters,” Kahramanian concluded.

Australia’s New Prime Minister a Strong and Vocal Supporter of #ArmenianGenocide Recognition

September 15, 2015 by administrator

Newly elected Prime Minister of Australia, Malcolm Turnbull

CANBERRA—The Armenian National Committee of Australia (ANC Australia) has welcomed the election of Malcolm Turnbull as the new Prime Minister of Australia.

Turnbull challenged sitting Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, for their party’s (LIB) leadership in a spill that took place on Monday night in Parliament House. By winning the Liberal Party leadership, Turnbull immediately became Prime Minister-elect, and will be sworn in on Tuesday.

Turnbull, a longtime friend of the Armenian-Australian community, has been a strong and vocal supporter of Armenian Genocide recognition by the Parliament of Australia. On November 23, 2013, in his capacity as Shadow Minister for Communications and Broadband, Turnbull addressed the House of Representatives in an impassioned speech calling for the formal recognition of the Armenian, Greek and Assyrian genocides.

“They [ANC Australia Advocacy Week delegation] are assembled here, as we are, to 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. This type of crime, this sort of genocidal crime, is something that sadly is not unique in our experience,” Turnbull said.

He added: “We must own up to it. We must recognize it for what it is.”

He also called on the Republic of Turkey to acknowledge the genocidal crimes of their predecessors, the Ottoman Empire, to pave the way for reconciliation into the future, and live up to their multicultural past.

Executive Director of the Armenian National Committee of Australia, Vache Kahramanian, wrote to the Prime Minister-elect congratulating him on his election as Australia’s 29th Prime Minister.

“We welcome the election of Malcolm Turnbull as Prime Minister of Australia. His strong track record on Armenian related issues has been formidable and we look forward to continuing this strong relationship,” Kahramanian said.

“We also congratulate Tony Abbott on his service as Prime Minister Australia.”

ANC Australia has sought a meeting with the newly elected Prime Minister to discuss a wide range of issues important to the Armenian-Australian community.

Tony Abbott is ousted as Australia’s prime minister

September 14, 2015 by administrator

Malcolm Turnbull, a former investment banker and lawyer, became the prime minister of Australia on Monday night after defeating Tony Abbott in a vote of Liberal Party lawmakers.
The vote was the second challenge to Mr. Abbott’s leadership in seven months. He won the government in September 2013.
Mr. Turnbull is a moderate Liberal, whose views, most recently on the legitimacy of same-sex marriage, had conflicted with those of his prime minister. The Liberals, despite their name, are the more conservative of Australia’s two major parties.

Armenian to run for federal parliament in Australia

August 26, 2015 by administrator

The Armenian National Committee of Australia (ANC Australia) has welcomed the pre-selection of Hovig Melkonian as the Australian Labor Party’s candidate for the Federal seat of Casey in Victoria, ANC Australia said in a statement.

Melkonian is a current ANC Australia National Board member and he will take an extended leave of absence from his position to contest the election, which will likely take place no later than 2016.

79% of Labor members in the Casey branch supported Melkonian’s nomination as their Party’s candidate and he was pre-selected unopposed by Labor’s public office selection committee.

“I’m honoured to have earned the support of rank-and-file members to contest the next federal election as the Labor candidate for Casey,” Melkonian said.

“This is the part of the world where I grew up. I’m very proud to have the opportunity to represent this community.”

Melkonian will be running against the incumbent Liberal Member for Casey and new Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tony Smith MP.

Melkonian studied Advanced Manufacturing and Mechatronics Engineering at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT). He has also served in the National Union of Students as a Welfare Officer and as an RMIT Council Member.

Australia: Armenian genocide panel cancelled as minister withdraws amid ‘denial’ claims

May 21, 2015 by administrator

By Philippa Hawker,

NSW Treasurer Gladys Berejiklian has withdrawn from a panel to discuss the film The Cut,

A post-screening discussion of the Armenian genocide has been cancelled after NSW Treasurer Gladys Berejiklian, a senior figure in the Armenian-Australian community, withdrew, allegedly in response to the presence of Turkish “genocide deniers” on the panel.

The panel discussions had been planned to accompany screenings at the German Film Festival in Sydney and Melbourne of the film The Cut, from acclaimed German-Turkish director Fatih Akin.

The Cut opens in 1915, just before the events that led to the death of more than a million Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire. The film focuses on the story of an Armenian blacksmith searching for his two daughters, years after he was separated from them.

The atrocities depicted have come to be known as the Armenian genocide, but that is a term rejected by many Turks.

According to Dr Arpad Solter, director of both the film festival and the Goethe-Institut, “the minister was concerned about appearing on a platform with genocide deniers”.

A spokesman for the Treasurer refused to confirm that was the case. “It’s fine for the organisers to say that, but we’re not actually commenting on it at all,” the spokesman said.

Dr Solter said that once the minister pulled out, other Armenian representatives did too. “If there’s no dialogue possible, and that’s what we were aiming for, then the decision had to be made to cancel.”

A scene from Fatih Akin’s The Cut, starring Tahar Rahim (centre).

He said the panel was “meant to offer Armenians and Turks in Australia a forum to share and discuss their most painful history and to open new, fresh avenues for exchange, open debate and mutual understanding”.

The need to cancel, Dr Solter said, indicated that the subject is, after 100 years, “still a minefield”.

“It’s too sensitive, and too painful, most of all. I believe at the end of the day, reason and research and enlightenment will prevail, but it will take time.”

The CEO of the Australian Turkish Advocacy Alliance, Ertunc Ozen, who was to be one of the Sydney panellists, said he was disappointed at the cancellation, and the missed opportunity for “open and respectful dialogue with people of a different point of view”.

He said no one was disputing the fact that “hundreds of thousands of civilians lost their lives and were uprooted and moved throughout this period. There’s never been any denial of that.” However, he added that he “absolutely” disputed the term “genocide”.

Author and historian Robert Manne, one of the Melbourne panellists, said he regretted the cancellation.

“Given that the Armenians have been trying for 100 years to have the astonishing crimes committed against them acknowledged, the fact that a panel discussion about a straightforward film on the genocide is cancelled, that’s a matter of great dismay.”

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Internationally renowned lawyer Robertson urges Australia to recognize Armenian ‘genocide’

April 25, 2015 by administrator

High-profile human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson QC has addressed members of the Australian Armenian community in a solemn night of commemoration.
Source: AAP
Internationally renowned human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson has called on the Australian government to recognise the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of Armenians in modern-day Turkey 100 years ago as genocide.

As Australians prepared to commemorate the centenary of the Gallipoli landings, more than 2000 members and supporters of the Australian Armenian community gathered at Sydney Town Hall to remember the victims of mass killings that began in the Ottoman Empire on April 24, 1915.

Turkey has consistently denied the deaths of up to 1.5 million Armenians amounted to genocide.

“Isn’t it ironic that here we are, 100 years after (Gallipoli), celebrating the courage of young Australians in facing Turkish bullets, and we have a government that lacks the courage to stand up to Turkey?” Mr Robertson said in his keynote address.

“I can’t refute what is obvious to every honest scholar, that what went on in 1915 was genocide.”

Mr Robertson said the key difference between the original Anzacs – including his great-uncle Bill Robertson, who was among the first to die in sniper fire at Anzac Cove – and the Armenians, who were killed only hours earlier and in the years that followed, was that the diggers had volunteered to fight.

“They were victims of a crime,” he said of the Armenians.

“They deserve not just mourning, they deserve a particular concern and commemoration. Not just a remembrance, but a demand.”