The proposed motion to recognise the Genocide of Greeks, Armenians, and Assyrians, expected to be tabled in the Victorian Parliament on October 29 by Victorian Greens leader Samantha Ratnam, is expected to be dropped.
Today, the Victorian premier’s office confirmed in statement to media, that they would not support the motion when it is presented.
“We know a lot of people feel very strongly about this issue,” the statement said.
“But this is not an appropriate time for this motion. The war in the Middle East has hurt social cohesion in this country and led to so much division.
“Right now, we need to focus on uniting communities, not creating more division,” the premier’s statement said.
One of the advocates for the motion said that all the Greeks in the Labor party agreed to fall into line with what was Allan’s “captain’s call.”
Neos Kosmos understands that Adam Bandt, the federal leader of the Greens, intervened late last night to pull the motion. This masthead called Bandt’s office, which did neither denied nor confirmed that the Greens leader intervened. When asked “if we would be lying to say that Bandt intervened?”, his office said that there would be “no statement released” on the issue.
It is understood that the unconfirmed intervention by the Greens leader has “greatly upset” Ratnam, according to a more active advocate from the communities pushing for the motion. Ratnam’s desire to augment Greek and other Middle Eastern Christian votes in the seat of Wills, now held by Labor’s Peter Khalil, a Coptic Egyptian, is seen as a motive, as she is aiming to run for the seat in the next federal election.
Neos Kosmos also talked to Liberal insiders who said that the party is still looking to come up with a “settled position” on the genocide motion.
As of 2023, the governments and parliaments of 34 countries have officially recognised the Armenian genocide, including the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Mexico, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Sweden, Argentina, and Brazil.
A broad academic consensus affirms the historical events during 1915-1916, when the Ottoman Empire, as it was collapsing, allowed paramilitary and irregular forces to massacre and ethnically cleanse the Armenian population. Over 1.3 million Armenians perished on death marches or died of starvation; over 250,000 Assyrians and 300,000 Greeks suffered the same fate. Up to two million indigenous Christians were driven out of Anatolia, now Turkey, culminating with the burning of Smyrna in 1922 and the expulsion of 1.2 million Hellenes.
Azerbaijan, Turkey, and Pakistan actively deny the classification of these events as genocide. Turkey, the successor state of the Ottoman Empire, maintains that the mass deportations and deaths were a result of wartime conditions and not a deliberate attempt at extermination.
Letters and posts in opposition to the motion call it “anti-Turkish and anti-Muslim,” accusing Ratnam of “political opportunism” and of distorting history. These critics argue that the motion is divisive and aims at currying favour from communities like the large Greek one in Victoria.
In response, though, the letters from various Greek organisations to parliamentarians, and the motion itself, make clear that the motion is neither anti-Turkish nor anti-Islamic. They emphasise the need to recognise the events, pursue respectful dialogue, and call for “healing.”
Since 2020, the Joint Justice Commission, representing figures from the Armenian, Assyrian, and Greek communities in Australia, has been advocating for federal recognition of the genocides.
Victorian parliamentarians from all parties have received letters from Greek, Armenian, and Assyrian communities in support of the recognition of the genocides.
