Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Assyrians Prepare for Commemoration of Genocides
Fairfield, Australia -- The Assyrian Universal Alliance (Australian Chapter) is preparing for the annual commemoration of Assyrian Martyr's Day and the 1st anniversary of the inauguration of the Assyrian Genocide Monument. The monument was erected in remembrance of the 750,000 Assyrian souls who perished during the 1914 to 1923 genocide perpetrated against the Assyrian Nation at the hands of Ottoman Turkey, which is memorialised by Assyrians all over the world.
In an interview Mr. Hermiz Shahen, the Regional Secretary of the Assyrian Universal Alliance (AUA) in Australia and New Zealand, stated that the AUA in cooperation with the Australian Institute for Holocaust and Genocide Studies (AIHGS) is in preparation to host an evening seminar commemorating Assyrian Martyrs and Genocide Day to be held at the Theatrette Room, New South Wales Parliament House in Sydney on Friday 5th August 2011, 6:00 pm sharp.
The AUA has extended a formal invitation to Dr. Anahit Khosroeva, Ph.D., a Senior Researcher at the Institute of History at the Armenian National Academy of Sciences. Dr. Khosraeva is slated to deliver the keynote address for the Assyrian genocide seminar. Dr. Panayiotis Diamadis, Director of the Australian Institute for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, will also deliver a discourse at the evening event.
Mr. Shahen affirmed that the seminar will be attended by many members of the Federal, Senate, State Parliament of NSW, and Local governments, as well as a large number of prominent individuals and representatives of the Assyrian, Armenian and Greek communities in Sydney.
A short documentary film that was produced by the late Ms. Lina Yakubova for this particular conference will be screened. The film exposes the tragedies and atrocities committed by the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) (or Ittihad ve Terakki Jemiyeti), popularly known as the Young Turks. Evidencing their thirst for Christian blood, women and properties, slaughtering without pity or regret their Assyrian, Armenian and Greek citizens, uprooting the Assyrians from their ancestral homeland in the upper part of Assyria, where they lived for thousands of years.
On the occasion of the 1st anniversary of the inauguration of the Assyrian Genocide Monument, which falls on Sunday, 7th August 2011 coinciding with Assyrian Martyrs Day, Mr. Shahen declared that a special memorial service will take place at 3:00 pm at Bonnyrigg Park, Bonnyrigg, NSW. He added that he expected a large number of Assyrians to attend this important occasion along with representatives from the Armenian and Greek communities.
When asked if any success has been achieved by the Assyrian Universal Alliance in obtaining genocide recognition by the Australian Government Mr. Shahen said that "work is continuing at both State and Federal levels for the recognition of the Assyrian genocide in order to make the Turkish government acknowledge and come to terms with its past history so that the crime of genocide does not repeat itself". There has been notable and substantial coordination between the Assyrian Universal Alliance, the Armenian National Committee of Australia and Greeks organisations which has significantly strengthened the Armenian, Assyrian and Greek lobby.
At the conclusion Mr. Shahen pointed out that the Assyrian genocide perpetrated by Ottoman Turkey during WW1, which claimed the lives of over 750,000 Assyrian and the tragedies that followed, caused the near annihilation of the Assyrian nation, uprooting them from their homeland in North Assyria (South East Turkey). Assyrians will continue the arduous struggle for their rights, holding in the highest respect the memory of the innocent blood that was spilled on their homeland Assyria for the sake of freedom.
Assyrian Universal Alliance

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