Blog

14 Aug
0

Operation Esslemont Update

Australian Turkish Advocacy Alliance welcomes the progress made in the reopened investigation into the 1980-murder of Turkish diplomats by Armenian terrorists.

The NSW JCTT, which comprises the NSW Police Force’s Counter Terrorism and Special Tactics Command, the Australian Federal Police, the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation and the NSW Crime Commission, established Operation Esslemont to re-investigate the murders and is using advancements in investigative techniques and forensic technologies.

ATAA understands the announcement of $1 million reward on 17 December 2019 had assisted police in creating a number of new lines of inquiry.

Acting on these new lines of inquiry, police divers from Marine Area Command recently conducted initial searches in Sydney Harbour off Greenwich Point regarding items of interest to the investigation.

According to journalists who are familiar with the case, the underwater search area is very significant due to a couple of reasons.

“Following the attack in 1980, underwater searches conducted in Rose Bay where assailants’ motorbike was found nearby. The location of recent dives is very specific and new, which indicates the police is actually acting on some credible new information. Also, Greenwich Point is within vicinity of properties raided by police in 1980 and later in 1986 following the Melbourne bombing of Turkish consulate.”

Distance from the crime scene

Police divers have retrieved some items of interest from the sea floor, according to the NSW Police. These items will now go under forensic investigation.

We urge all Australians with credible information about the case come forward and assist NSW Police in their inquiry.

Watch the NSW Police video

Please visit NSW Police web page from the link below to find out more about the case.

11 Dec
0

Rohingya Genocide Inquiry

The world watches on the proceedings at ICJ in La Hague. The genocide allegations brought against Myanmar, and Myanmar’s response will be heard during the sessions.

To rule that Myanmar has committed genocide, the court will have to determine that the state acted “with intent to destroy in whole or in part” the Rohingya minority.

Such determination requires ample and strong evidence, and has never been the case in the matter of Ottoman Armenians for the events of 1915.

For example, the so-called Armenian genocide lobby is yet to produce a single authentic Ottoman Government dispatch ordering the killing of Armenians.

The alleged “genocide of 1.5 million Armenians” should have left countless pieces of evidence, else than survivor stories that were quite common to every citizen of a collapsing empire fighting a world war.

The British were the closest party to these events as the principal occupying Power of the Ottoman Empire and its capital, Istanbul. They had full control of the Ottoman Archives. 

As such, the British led an in-depth investigation against 144 highly placed Ottoman officials including Ministers, who were charged with war crimes against the Armenians, and 56 out of the 144 accused were deported to the island of Malta to stand trial. 

After a wide-scale and frantic search of all the archival material, Sir Horace Rumbold, the British High Commissioner in Istanbul, wrote to London that the “evidence against the deportees are [sic] very few. Under these circumstances, the prosecution finds itself under grave disadvantage”. But he added that “he hoped that the American Government could supply a large amount of documentary information”. 

In failing to find any legally acceptable evidence against the deportees, Lord Curzon, the British Foreign Secretary at the time, informed Geddes, the British Ambassador at Washington, that there was “considerable difficulty” in establishing proof of guilt against the Turkish detainees at Malta, and requested him “to ascertain if the United States Government is in possession of any evidence that could be of value for the purpose of prosecution”. 

On 13 July 1921, the British Embassy at Washington gave the following reply: “I regret to inform Your Lordship that there was nothing therein which could be used as evidence against the Turks who are being detained for trial at Malta. Having regard to this stipulation and the fact that the reports in the possession of the Department of State do not appear in any case to contain evidence against these Turks which would be useful for the purposes of corroborating information already in possession of His Majesty’s Government, I fear that nothing is to be hoped from addressing any further inquiries to the United States Government in this matter”. 

Subsequently, all charges against the Ottoman detainees were dismissed. 

On 14 April 1999, Foreign Office spokesperson Baroness Ramsay of Cartvale said the following: “The British Government had condemned the massacres at the time. But in the absence of unequivocal evidence that the Ottoman Administration took a specific decision to eliminate the Armenians under their control at that time, British Governments have not recognized those events as indications of genocide. Nor do we believe it is the business of Governments of today to review events of over 80 years ago, with a view to pronouncing on them.” 

Furthermore, acting on behalf of the British Government, Baroness Scotland of Asthal said the following in a written response on 7 February 2001: “The Government, in line with previous British Governments, have judged the evidence not to be sufficiently unequivocal to persuade us that these events should be categorized as genocide as defined by the 1948 United Nations Convention on Genocide, a Convention which was drafted in response to the Holocaust and is not retrospective in application. The interpretation of events in eastern Anatolia in 1915-1916 is still the subject of genuine debate among historians.” 

So much for “the process of achieving international recognition of the Genocide of Armenians which has appreciably gained momentum” according to the Permanent Representative of Armenia. One should ask why a handful of 30-plus deputies out of nearly 600 parliamentarians were present when the French Parliament voted on the so-called Genocide Resolution. The Permanent Representative of Armenia should keep in mind the future when the realities of a terrible war in which millions on all sides died will no longer be ignored, and when a very different picture will emerge as politics are avoided and the standard procedures of historical analysis are applied to this question. It will be seen then that there is a vast difference between history written to defend one-sided nationalist convictions and what true historical analysis should be. Indeed, in presenting the Convention on the Prevention of the Crime of Genocide for ratification, the Secretary-General of the United Nations emphasized that genocide is a crime of “specific intent”, requiring conclusive proof. 

We hope that the above information contributes to the correct perception of the First World War era events in eastern Anatolia.

We also hope our politicians, if genuine, pay attention to what is happening in our region now, rather than racing to appease powerful ultra-nationalist foreign lobby groups for donations and votes.

22 Nov
0

JCAG Terrorists Still Among Us.

We welcome recent developments in NSW Counter Terrorism investigation into the murder of Turkish diplomats, Sarik Ariyak and Engin Sever in Sydney in 1980.

We also closely follow the U.S. court case in between different factions of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, apparently, a case that unveils enough to warrant a new investigation into the foreign influence of ARF and its proxy groups by the Department of Justice there.

We commend Turkish Voice of Australia for connecting the dots in the terrorist killing of Turkish diplomat, Orhan Gunduz in Boston, in 1982. Again, sponsored by ARF, this attack seemed to have been carried out by those who were convicted of the thwarted bombing plot against the Turkish consulate building in Philedelphia.

You can read more about the story here at this link.

19 Jan
0

Young Turks Take On Australian Politics

We have run an initiative last year, called Young Turks Down Under with the support of Turkey’s agency for diaspora Turks, YTB.

We tried to upskill the members of our community, and we organised some seminars with subject matter experts on political engagement.

The workshop went well, and our ranks have swollen, visibly during the last elections.

Members of our community, calling themselves the Young Turks took part in a number of political activities to support the causes of the Turkish-Australian community.

It would not have been possible without the support of YTB.

ATAA is committed to carry on and build on top of this, to build an active and resilient community who knows how to protect itself.

01 Jun
0

Young Turks Down Under

Australian Turkish Advocacy Alliance with the support of Turkish government agency for diaspora communities, YTB, is running a series of workshops to upskill members of our community in their efforts to become the voice of their communities. 

The workshop and seminars, subject to COVID19 restrictions, are to be run in person both in Sydney and Melbourne. 

“With this program, we are hoping to empower members of our community so that they can seek their own rights through the democratically available channels.” said the Executive Secretary of the organisation.

“We thank the YTB, for their support.” the Secretary added.

During the seminars, key skills in advocacy including building a narrative and building rapport in line with a strategy will be taught by subject matter experts.

A short application form needs to be completed to be admitted to these seminars.

01 Jun
0

Some Greek Australian MPs Push Athens’ Agenda In Australia

In a seemingly co-ordinated effort, three Greek-Australian members from South Australia brought in motions, which align more with Athens’ foreign policy goals than their own party policies, to their respective parliaments in recent days.

First, the member for West Torrens of South Australia, Tom Koutsantonis asked the House of Assembly there to acknowledge and recognise 19 May as the remembrance day for the Greek Genocide.

Then, the member for Adelaide, Steve Georganas gave a similarly worded motion to the Federal parliament.

And finally, the Honorable Irene Pnevmatikos delivered her motion, seconded by the Honorable Connie Barnos to the Legislative Council of the South Australian parliament, again acknowledging the so-called Asia Minor Genocide Remembrance Day.

There are some commonalities among the authors of these three motions. They are all members of the Greek-Australian community and are from the Labor party. Ms Bonaros who seconded Ms Pnevmatikos’ motion also has Greek ancestry.

More importantly, all these members, along with many other, are members of an Athens based organisation called World Hellenic Inter-Parliamentary Association (WHIA). The Association promotes Greece’s agenda across the world.

In May 2019, conservative New Democracy leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis wowed to seek international recognition of the so-called Greek genocide globally. A shift from previous governments’ approach to the issue since 1994.

Same year, he was elected the PM of Greece.

In January 2020, Mr Georganas travelled to Greece and Cyprus during a trip paid by the WHIA.

In April 2021, Mr Georganas was elected as the 2nd Vice President of the WHIA. After his election he said:

Over the years, I’ve worked on a variety of issues—from Cyprus to protection of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and other issues of concern, the PADEE/ WHIA is an important organisation for disseminating information and mobilising Greek communities all over the world.

https://greekherald.com.au/news/three-greek-australians-elected-world-hellenic-inter-parliamentary-association/

In May 2021, all three motions were tabled.

Mr Georganas is the member for the Federal seat of Adelaide. According to the 2016 Census, the seat represents 163,440 people living there. Of those, only 4% is with Greek ancestry. Even if we are to believe that all 7477 Australians with Greek ancestry from his electorate demand him to support Greek causes, his efforts can be seen as disproportionate allocation of his time and resources entrusted to him by the remaining 96% of his constituents.

Mr Koutanstonis, the member for West Torrens is a former disgraced minister for Road and Transport safety in that state. He had to resign from that portfolio following revelations about his dozens of overdue traffic fines.

This alone says a lot about his perception in the wider community.

Again, he has no more than 10% of his electorate with Greek ancestry.

Ms Pnevmatikos and Ms Bonaros have a different yet similar story. According to this report they did not even get an invite from the leaders of their own community for the Greek Independence Day celebrations for their vote for abortion bill. One can claim that they are desperately seeking the endorsement from Greek Archbishops in that town.

Australia has many more members with Greek ancestry in different states and federal parliament. Most of them are serving their constituents and Australia. They have great pride in their ancestry and we meet them on occasions, talk about the great cultural connection the Turks and the Greeks have in common.

Unfortunately, the members we have named above are seemingly carrying out tasks irrelevant to the needs of communities they represent, and in line with Athens’ foreign policy goals.

They are doing this during when all of us suffer from a once-in-a-life time healthcare and economic crisis due to COVID19.

We ask the people of South Australia to ask their members, who do they represent.

On a final note.

Greece undersigned the Lausanne Peace Treaty in 1924 admitting its actions in Asia Minor between 15 May 1919 and 30 August 1922 were against the rules of war.

And the war time hero of Greece, Eleftherios Venizelos nominated his adversary Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who was in charge of the Turkish war of independence in the areas during the time of the alleged genocide of Greeks, to Nobel Peace Prize for “finally bringing peace to Asia Minor”

Needless to say, these two facts should be enough for any magistrate to throw this case to trash at a committal hearing, and for any person with simple intelligence to ignore unsubstantiated claims made by these Labor politicians.