Ishtartv.com –greekherald.com.au
12 / 08 / 2025
The Hellenic presence was felt during the commemorative events for the
111th anniversary of the Genocide of the Assyrian people last week.
A formal event was held at NSW Parliament House on Wednesday, August 6,
followed by a wreath-laying ceremony at the Assyrian Genocide Monument in
Smithfield in south-west Sydney on Sunday, August 10.
The Hellenic delegations at the twin events included Maria Anthony
(President), Kosta Papoulidis and Ioanna Diamadis of the
Pontoxeniteas Association.
“It is important Pontians especially are at commemorations of other
communities,” said Mr Papoulidis, Pontoxeniteas’ Youth Committee Chair and
dance instructor with the Club’s Intermediate and Junior groups, following
Sunday’s wreath-laying, which was interrupted by rain.
“This show of solidarity is an important way of promoting awareness of
our own history and culture.”
A guest speaker at both events was Genocide scholar Dr Panayiotis
Diamadis, “a long-time advocate of parliamentary recognition of the Hellenic,
Armenian and Assyrian Genocides,” according to the Assyrian National Council –
Australia.
At both events, Dr Diamadis stressed the importance of education as
a tool in making genocide history and not current affairs.
We see genocide in the Middle East today – the Druze, the Assyrians, the
Orthodox Rum, the Yazidi. All are still being targeted for being different,” Dr
Diamadis said.
“We are working towards a world where Druze, Assyrians and other
Christians, Yazidi, Jews and Muslims can live their lives as they wish, without
fear of genocidal persecution. Education in all its forms is a pathway to this
world. In Parliaments. In schools. In churches. In parks with memorials.
Education everywhere and in all forms.”
The Assyrians are the indigenous people of Mesopotamia (modern
south-east Turkey, north-east Syria and northern Iraq) with a recorded history
as old as the Hellenes and the Armenians. Under the Ottoman Empire, the
Assyrians were officially seen as ‘Ermeni’ (Armenians) and therefore targeted
for destruction.
The persecution of the Assyrian people continues to the day, especially
in Syria and Iraq, leading tens of thousands to refuge in Greece, Europe and as
far away as south-west Sydney.
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