The following letter was sent to the Mayor and the twelve Councillors of the Fairfiel City Council.

December 09, 2009

Re: Alleged Genocide Debate.

Dear Councillor:

I would like to express my deepest disappointment on the up coming Assyrian Genocide Memorial monument motion to be debated on the 15 Dec 2009.

First of all, I wish to say that I am outraged and disgusted by the alleged genocide memorial motion even prior to debate. There is no doubt that there are a great many honest law abiding, hard-working Australian citizens of Turkish descent that would find this motion to be highly offensive.

I would like to urge you to oppose this motion on a number of grounds;-

Firstly, the events occurred during World War I was a wartime tragedy which many lives, including Turks, were lost in Eastern Anatolia. It should also be remembered that there is no agreement among international scholars on the death tolls or the true nature of the tragic events that caused significant losses of life among different ethnic groups in Eastern Anatolia during World War I.

Secondly, the genocide is a precisely defined legal term that requires a court decision to assert. Not all suffering, temporary resettlements, killings, casualties, my-grandma-told-me stories, photographs, diplomatic reports can be slapped on with a casual genocide label. For an atrocity to be considered genocide, the plaintiff is burdened by the U.N. with the task of proving that the defendant had the "intention to commit systematic extermination. Hence the words like genocide should not be thrown around irresponsibly at the government level.

Thirdly, Commonwealth of Australia and the Republic of Turkey developed a close relationship and a friendship over the years. Politicians must be very careful not to jeopardise this relation.

In the lights of the above points, I would urge you to oppose the motion and convince your colleagues to oppose it as well. There is no doubt that this kind of ill-fated motions will destroy the multicultural harmony in Australia.

Sincerely,

Halit Sindi
Director
Australian Centre for Turkish Studies