The organisers of the Enosi Festival, that was held in Melbourne last weekend, have condemned the Australian Macedonian Advisory Council (AMAC), and supporters of, for boycotting and advising the members of the Greek community to also boycott the festival.
In a press release sent to Neos Kosmos this week, the organisers of Enosi have openly declared their disappointment in AMAC and supporters of, including the president of the Greek Orthodox Community of Melbourne and Victoria, Bill Papastergiadis who they said has let himself “be used by … personal agendas”.
The Enosi organisers said they were “disappointed” with AMAC for making this statement and said that they should be support “events that foster understanding through interaction”.
Last week, Neos Kosmos published a letter by AMAC asking members of the Greek community of Melbourne to “avoid this event” as they objected to the idea of using tax-payer’s money to fund a “Greek-Turkish event”.
However, the organisers of Enosi said AMAC’s open denouncement of the festival as a “Greek-Turkish event” revealed three things: “those that are behind the boycott, the real purpose of AMAC’s boycott call and AMAC’s ignorance at who Alawites are”.
Alawites are a persecuted religious minority in Turkey whose form of Islam is heavily influenced by Orthodoxy and because of this, are treated as heretics by the Turkish state.
“Enosi brought together Hellenes, Alawites and Lebanese” and festival organisers added that “annually, other nationalities will be invited all under the Hellenic banner.”
