Armenian community irritated at statement of Australian PM over Armenian Genocide

The Sydney Morning Herald informs that the leaders of the Armenian community have refused to read the statement of the Prime Minister during the commemoration events. Scott Morrison said in his statement that he joins the Armenian Diaspora “for mourning and remembering the horrors that took place with the Armenian people during the last years of the Ottoman Empire”. Interestingly, Scott Morrison, not being a Prime Minister back in 2011, called the incidents with Armenians “genocide” in parliament, adding that it was “one of the greatest crimes against humanity”, but in his statement on the 104th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide these formulations are absent.

Head of the Armenian National Committee of Australia Haig Kayserian, who has refused to read the statement, said, “His behavior is offensive for about 50 thousand members of the Australian Armenian community who are mainly the heirs of the Armenian Genocide survivors”. Though Australia has not recognized the Armenian Genocide, but the largest provinces of the country, New South Wales and South Australia have recognized the historical fact.