On the 19th of May 2019, the global day of remembrance for the Greek genocide, an event was held by the Greek Genocide Commemoration Committee.
The afternoon commenced with an introductory speech by the committee’s president, Peter Stefanidis, who highlighted the importance of remembering our fallen ancestors, the inherited trauma that is passed down through generations, and advocating for government recognition of the tragedies.
One of the guest speakers was Dr. Panagiotis Diamandis who gave an excellent presentation about the collective genocide of the Greeks, Assyrians and Armenians of Anatolia.
He called this “deconstructing a genocide” and took the audience backwards on a timeline, beginning with our present-day issues involving awareness. Presenting impartial sources from America, Germany, UK and even Australia gave brilliant insight as to how widely known the genocide was.
Dr. Diamandis also took time at the end of his talk to take questions from the audience, providing solutions to many common problems revolving around the incidents of the early 20th century.
Guests then heard the touching stories of Assyrian refugee Kinda Haroun, who was the representative of the Assyrian Australian Social Development Club.
She spoke of her first-hand experiences growing up in Syria before fleeing in 2016 and emphasised that the Assyrian genocide cannot be commemorated as it is still ongoing.
To conclude the evening, a casual forum was held amongst the youth to discuss future plans and explore ideas which would unite all Greeks, Assyrians and Armenians and help to gain local and global recognition of our pasts.
