NSW MPs not welcome at Gallipoli: Turkey

Turkey has warned that some New South Wales MPs won't be welcome at the centenary ANZAC service at Gallipoli in 2015.

NSW MPs not welcome at Gallipoli: TurkeyNSW MPs not welcome at Gallipoli: Turkey

NSW MPs not welcome at Gallipoli: Turkey

This comes after the NSW Legislative Council passed a motion recognising what it termed the Assyrian, Armenian and Greek genocides in Turkey.

 

The issue of mass deaths while Turkey was under Ottoman rule during the First World War has been a hotly-contested issue.

 

There's broad agreement that in 1915, Ottoman Turks deported hundreds of thousands of Armenians from Eastern Anatolia, an area located in what's now the eastern-most part of Turkey.

 

More than 1.5 million Armenians and hundreds of thousands of Greeks and Assyrians reportedly died.

 

In May, a motion passed by the NSW Upper and Lower houses recognised the deaths as genocide.

 

Premier Barry O'Farrell outlined at the time why he thought this was an issue of importance for Australia.

 

"Genocide has been something to many settlers on these shores have escaped from, and I move this motion to recognise the genocide of Armenians, Greeks and the Assyrians which occurred after 1915. This motion reflects the community's determination that it's never forgotten and remembered around the world."

 

Turkey angrily disputes that the mass deaths amounted to genocide - saying most of the deaths were the result of starvation and disease.

 

Turkish Consul General in Sydney, Gulseren Celik has issued a statement saying that anyone critical of Turkey's history will not be welcome at Gallipoli for the ANZAC centenary celebrations.

 

But she disputes saying that the entire NSW parliament would be unwelcome at the Gallipoli centenary celebrations.

 

" I didn't say exactly that. I said please read the statement of our Ministry of Foreign Affairs in which it says these politicians would not be welcome. I didn't say all NSW State parlamentarians."

 

Some NSW MPs are incensed by what they see an an attempt by the Turkish government to silence them on the issue.

 

Transport Minister Gladys Berejiklian who is of Armenian descent, says that free speech over the issue must be upheld.

 

"What makes us so unique as Australians is our ability whether you're a member of parliament or a member of the public to express your views freely. That freedom was exactly what was fought for in Gallipoli in 1915."

 

NSW Upper House MP Fred Nile, is also critical of the Turkish Consul General's statement.

 

"The statement by the Turkish Consul General is very disappointing and very much an attack on free speech. Members of parliament must have a right to debate any issue and to vote on any issue according to their conscience and this is really trying to intimidate NSW State members of Parliament and I hope that the Turkish government will reconsider."

 

Mr Nile was the force behind the motion passing in the State Parliament.

 

However, he says that the Turkish statement will not deter him and fellow State MPs from attempting to attend the 2015 commemoration events.

 

"No I plan to go and quite a few members of the state parliament are planning to go. So it would be a disgrace to try to use blackmail on members of parliament saying that they can't attend a Gallipoli celebration that is commemorating the deaths of Australian soldiers. Up until now the Turkish government has been very co-operative with the Gallipoli commemorations."

 

Consul General Gulseren Celik says it is not the place of other governments to pass judgement on Turkish history.

 

"Genocide is the most serious crime that can be laid against the nation so it shouldn't be used lightly as a generic term. It can be only determined by a competent international court. In the case of the 1915 events there is no international court ruling. So the Armenians have never been able to take it to the international courts because there is no documentation, not a shred of evidence. Even the figures they give are not true."

 

Professor Colin Tatz is director of the Australian Institute for Holocaust and Genocide Studies.

 

He says most historians agree that genocide did occur.

 

"It's about 99 to 1. The non-Turkish scholars that she is talking about need to be qualified. Every single one of them have actually been funded by the Turkish government and predictably they have produced a pro-Turkish line. There isn't a single respectable scholar who is accepted in the general profession of history who says it didn't happen".

 

Professor Tatz points out that in 2009, the South Australian parliament also passed a resolution using the term 'genocide' to describe the deaths of Armenians, Greeks, Assyrians and other minorities in Ottoman Turkey.

 

And he believes both the South Australian and New South Wales parliaments were correct to do so.

 

"I think Australians have a moral duty to face that history. The state of South Australia and the state of NSW both look down the barrels of the Turkish atrocities of the First World War and have passed resolutions unanimously based on evidence before it. The onus is on Turkey to show that basically they're being framed and if they are being framed the questions is why would someone want to frame Turkey with as heinous a crime as this? They don't answer that question."

 






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