Executive Council of Australian Jewry
MEDIA RELEASE
20 November 2013
Armenian Genocide
The Executive Council of Australian Jewry notes the current visit to Australia of the American Professor of history, Justin McCarthy. Professor McCarthy campaigns around the world against the recognition of the Armenian genocide.
Professor McCarthy does not deny that from 1915 to 1923 more than 1 million Armenians, Pontian Greeks and Assyrians, almost all of them civilians, lost their lives at the hands of the Ottoman Caliphate. However, notwithstanding that this slaughter was on a massive scale over a period of years, Professor McCarthy maintains that this loss of life was not systematic and was not carried out with the intention of eradicating these Christian communities, but was an act of war.
The inherent implausibility of this contention raises many questions about the quality of Professor McCarthy’s analysis. The ECAJ accepts the overwhelming view of history scholars that the killing of hundreds of thousands of civilians in these communities was done with genocidal intent.
Whilst freedom of expression and academic freedom require that Professor McCarthy must be at liberty to put forward his theories, the manner in which he does so must not lapse into racial vilification. Professor McCarthy is a guest of Australia and must respect Australia’s laws during his visit.
One of the venues to which Professor McCarthy has been invited to put forward his views, is a room in Parliament House Canberra, thereby lending his theories the misleading appearance of official approval. In our view, no part of Parliament House should be misused in this way.
Peter Wertheim AM | Executive Director
phone: 02 8353 8500 | m: 0408 160 904 | fax 02 9361 5888
e: pwertheim@ecaj.org.au | www.ecaj.org.au
