Turkey threatens to delay Gallipoli survey in statue row
Daily Telegraph
September 29, 2010 5:16PM
TURKEY may delay a survey of its
battlefields with New Zealand and Australia in protest at a World War I monument built in Australia, the Turkish ambassador said Wednesday.
Oguz Ozge, Turkey's ambassador to Australia and New Zealand, told Radio New Zealand that the monument in Sydney, which commemorates the deaths of around 750,000 Assyrians, was "quite unacceptable."
The monument, erected by Assyrian community leaders, refers to the alleged killing of the Assyrians by Ottoman troops as "genocide". Government minister Chris Bowen was photographed at its unveiling last month.
"This is quite concerning to the Turkish government, and as long as remedial action is not taken we intend to do something on the part of the Turkish government," Mr Ozge said.
Archaeologists from Turkey, New Zealand and Australia are next week due to begin mapping the Gallipoli peninsula, the scene of a bloody World War I offensive seen as a key moment in Australian and New Zealand history.
A final decision to suspend the Gallipoli survey had not yet been taken, but Mr Ozge said it "could be, until we find a way out".
"We hope to see the Australian government do something about (the monument)" he said.
"We are in touch with the Australian authorities ... It is our intention to find a way out which would be satisfactory to us all," he added.
Ian McGibbon, New Zealand's representative in the Gallipoli survey, said the row had cast next week's trip to Turkey into doubt, adding that the project had been several years in the making.
"I suspect it may eventually be next year now," Mr McGibbon told NZPA.
"I guess we just wait until the issue is resolved."
Mr McGibbon said the exercise aimed to provide a detailed archaeological map of the battlefields, where 11,500 Australian and New Zealand troops died in an offensive aimed at wresting the Dardanelles Strait from the Ottoman Empire, the predecessor of modern Turkey.
Turkey's foreign minister had earlier condemned the monument in Sydney's south-west, blaming people who "want to poison the perfect relations between Australia and Turkey and intend to rewrite history for political gain".
Vandals have attacked the monument, spray-painting it with the words, "Assyrian dogs", and the Turkish flag.
Perhaps Sydney’s “Muslim community “ will start desecrating Australian War Memorials if we don’t demolish this Assyrian Genocide Memorial.
Note the desecration of the Australian continent on the Globe, with the Islamic terrorist insignia, their “Moon God’s” crescent and star.
Assyrian Genocide Monument in Australia Vandalized
31 8 2010
FAIRFIELD, Australia (AINA) — The recently erected Assyrian Genocide Monument has been vandalized and painted with a Turkish crescent and star.
According to Fairfield police, the vandalism occurred around 4 AM. The police thus far have no leads on the perpetrators.
The vandals painted a Turkish crescent and star on the monument’s globe, which sits on a pedestal resembling a hand, as well as spray painted the words: “fuck Assyrian dogs” and “fuck Assyria” on the left and forward sides of the base of the monument. The plaque at the front of the monument was also removed.
According to the Fairfield City Champion, a local newspaper, a war memorial in Fairfield Park, dedicated to Australian and Assyrian soldiers who fought together, was also vandalized with a mixture of concrete and paint.
The monument’s desecration comes as no surprise to the local community, which erected the structure on August 7. Assyrian community leaders had privately expressed concerns about the safety of the monument immediately after its dedication ceremony.
The monument is dedicated to the 750,000 Assyrians that were killed by Turks in World War One, between 1915 and 1918.
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