The president of the Greek Community of Melbourne and Victoria, Bill Papastergiadis, and the president of the Cypriot Community of Melbourne and Victoria, Theo Theophanous, with the support of the Pontian Federation of Australia, have sent a letter to the Prime Minister urging the government to officially recognize the genocides committed against Armenians, Assyrians, Greeks and other Christian minorities in the Ottoman Empire between 1915 and 1923, Neos Kosmos reported.
The letter follows the motion unanimously adopted by the House of Representatives on 29 November 2021, which called on the government to officially recognize the acts of genocide.
The motion received the approval of Parliament.
“All we have asked of the Prime Minister, and in fact we are also asking of the Leader of the Opposition, is to respect the unanimous decision adopted by Parliament and to act accordingly,” the joint statement of the community presidents said.
As of 2021, 31 countries around the world have recognized the genocide, including the United States, France, Italy, Brazil, Sweden, Holland, Austria, Denmark and the Vatican.
