Ishtartv.com
- en.armradio.am
Siranush
Ghazanchyan, July 3, 2020, 13:06
Federal Member for Makin, Tony
Zappia has added his voice of support for the Joint Justice Initiative, which
was established to promote Australian recognition of the Armenian, Assyrian and
Greek Genocides.
The February 2020 launch of the Joint Justice Initiative at
Australia’s Parliament House featured the signing of a Memorandum of
Understanding by the Armenian National Committee of Australia (ANC-AU),
Assyrian Universal Alliance (AUA) and Australian Hellenic Council (AHC), which
declares Australia’s recognition of the Armenian, Assyrian and Greek Genocides
as a priority on behalf of their communities.
Zappia, who was born in Italy and
has represented his South Australian electorate in Federal Parliament since
2007, is a long-standing supporter of Armenian Genocide recognition and spoke
on the matter most recently during a parliamentary debate in December 2018.
“(The) recognition of atrocities
will bring a sense of closure and solace to survivors and family descendants.
It will also send a message to the world that such acts of horrific cruelty to
others are not acceptable and, if perpetrated, those responsible will
ultimately be held to account,” Zappia said during the 2018 House of
Representatives debate, which honoured the 70th Anniversary of the UN
Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
Armenian National Committee of
Australia (ANC-AU) Executive Director, Haig Kayserian said: “Mr. Tony Zappia
has continues his long-standing support on the issue for justice for the 1915
Genocide by signing the Joint Justice Initiative affirmation. We thank him fort
this support and are fortunate he will continue this journey towards national
recognition, hand-in-hand with our three communities.”
The Joint Justice Initiative has
so far announced the support of Zappia, Senator Sarah
Hanson-Young, Senator Hollie Hughes, Senator Rex Patrick, Mike
Freelander MP, Senator Eric Abetz, Senator Larissa
Waters, Senator Pat Dodson, Jason Falinski MP, Josh Burns
MP, John Alexander MP, Senator Andrew Bragg and Bob Katter
MP, with a promise of more announcements to come.
On 25th February 2020, over 100
Federal Australian parliamentarians, diplomats, departmental officials,
political staffers, academics, media and community leaders were treated to
cultural performances, food, wine and brandy, as well as the historic signing
of a Memorandum of Understanding, which affirmed that the signatory public
affairs representatives of the three communities were jointly committed to
seeing Australia recognise the Turkish-committed Genocide against the Armenian,
Greek and Assyrian citizens of the Ottoman Empire during World War I.
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