Turkish communities in Australia protest NSW parliament decision
Australian Turkish communities including those of Azerbaijan,
Turkey, Northern Cyprus and Central Asian republics have staged a
rally in front of the NSW Parliament building in Sydney in a
protest against the parliament's official recognition of the
Assyrian, Armenian and Greek genocide allegations, Azertac state
news agency reported on June 18.
The motion claimed Armenians, Assyrians and Greek communities were
subject to "qualitatively similar" genocides at the hands of the
Ottoman Government between 1914 and 1922.
Involving more than 2,000 people, the rally started with a short
visit to lay a wreath at the ANZAC Cenotaph in Martin Place.
Chanting slogans "Leave history to historians!", "Parliament is not
a court to judge!", "Stop spread of hatred and lies", "Protect your
multiculturalism", the participants called on the Parliament to
promote peace and friendship, not the spread of hatred and lies
among the multicultural Australian society.
Australian-Azerbaijani-Turkish Friendship President Imametdin
Kassoumov said the main purpose of the rally was to raise awareness
among the local communities and prevent the parliament from similar
actions in the future.
"What we want is that all communities with different origin and
ethnicity live in friendship and peace in Australia. We don't want
a decision made by the parliament based on false allegations to be
presented to the future generations as historical facts to promote
hatred. These things should be investigated by historians, taking
into account the realities existed that time. We want the
parliament to promote peace and friendship, not the spread of
hatred," he said.
The rally was organized by Australian Turkic Alliance in
association with other partner organizations including
Australian-Azerbaijani-Turkish Friendship Unity.