Tony Abbott urged to follow Pope's lead on Armenia Genocide

YEREVAN, APRIL 14, ARMENPRESS. Tony Abbott has been urged to follow the lead of the Pope in recognising the Ottoman Turks’ slaughter of up to 1.5 million Armenians and other Christians in 1915 as the first genocide of the 20th century, opening the way for an uneasy diplomatic battle in the lead-up to Anzac Day. As reports “Armenpress”, The Australian stated this in its recent article.

Australia’s Armenian community yesterday praised the leader of the world’s Catholics for recognising the genocide perpetrated against the Armenian people.

Australian political leaders attempted to distance themselves from the debate amid concerns relations with Turkey could suffer on the eve of the 100th anniversary of the Gallipoli landings.

Turkey responded by withdrawing its ambassador from the Vatican and accusing the Pope of propagating hatred and “unfounded claims”.

Twenty-two countries and three Australian states recognise the massacres of 1915 as genocide, but both major parties have so far stopped short of doing so at a federal level, as has US President Barack Obama.

Armenian National Committee of Australia executive director Vache Kahramanian praised the Pope. “It’s a very welcome development that the spiritual leader of 1.2 billion Catholics has used his divine liturgy to put on record the historical reality and importance of never forgetting such abhorrent crimes,” he said.

He hoped the Pope’s message would put international pressure on Turkey to recognise the “crime of genocide perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire … We are also hoping it will awaken Tony Abbott’s conscience and he’ll act in the footsteps of the pontiff, being a devout Catholic, in recognising the genocide and rejecting Turkey’s ongoing gag on the international community,” he said.

Mr Kahramanian accused Turkey of blackmailing countries, including Australia, by threatening to close Gallipoli to citizens of those nations that recognise the killings as genocide ahead of the centenary celebrations or cease co-operating with forces battling Islamic State insurgents in the Middle East.

“For me as an Australian citizen, I’m worried our foreign policy is being dictated not by Canberra, but by a foreign government,” Mr Kahramanian said.

“I believe the Australian government can recognise the very positive bonds of friendship formed between Australia and Turkey at Gallipoli, but at the same time acknowledge what happened 100 years ago was genocide.”

Mr Abbott’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

Previously it was reported that in his sermon during the Divine Liturgy dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide offered in St. Peter’s Basilica, Pope Francis called the mass killings and massacres of the Armenian people in the Ottoman Turkey in 1915 a Genocide. He said that the slaughter of the Armenians was the first genocide of the 20th century.

Among other things, Pope Francis said the Armenian killings were the first of three "massive and unprecedented" genocides that was followed by the Holocaust and Stalinism. He said others had followed, including in Cambodia, Rwanda, Burundi and Bosnia.

The Pope welcomed the President of the Republic of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan, the Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians His Holiness Karekin II, the Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia Aram I and the Catholicos Patriarch of the House of Cilicia Nerses Petros XIX, who attended the liturgy.

Pope Francis also honored the Armenian community at the start of the Mass by pronouncing a 10th-century Armenian mystic, St. Gregory of Narek, a doctor of the church. Only 35 people have been given the title, which is reserved for those whose writings have greatly served the universal church.