Turkey protests Assyrian
‘genocide’ monument
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Turkey
has reacted negatively to a
monument planned by the Assyrian
Universal Alliance to
commemorate the so-called
Assyrian genocide and to be
erected in the Australian city
of Fairfield, where 10 percent
of the population is Assyrian,
the Australian-based Assyrian
International News Agency (AINA)
reported this week. |
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The
monument was proposed by
Australian Ninos Khoshaba, a
member of Parliament, and the
Fairfield City Council will vote
on the monument on Dec. 15. The
monument would honor the
Assyrian victims of the
so-called genocide that
supposedly happened between 1915
and 1918, during World War I,
when the Turkish government
allegedly systematically killed
a large number of Assyrians.
According to the allegations,
approximately 750,000 Assyrians,
or approximately 75 percent of
the Assyrian population in the
former Ottoman Empire, were
killed. Turkey’s consul
general in Sydney, Renan
Şekeroğlu, expressed opposition
to the erection of the monument
and denied that there was an
Assyrian genocide during World
War I. Şekeroğlu conceded that
there were “tragedies” on “both”
sides [Turkey and Assyrians]
during that period. Şekeroğlu
said, “I am afraid that if such
proposals are realized, then it
will create a climate of
hostility and that it will also
contradict the environment of
the historically friendly
relations between Turkey and
Australia.” He said he will
lodge a complaint concerning the
proposed “genocide” monument
with the Fairfield City Council.
A spokesman for the council
said the council is “... taking
into consideration all angles
before making a decision on the
4.5-meter sculpture that looks
like a hand holding up the
globe,” AINA reported.
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12
December 2009, Saturday |
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TODAY’S
ZAMAN İSTANBUL |
http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/news-195309-102-turkey-protests-assyrian-genocide-monument.html
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