Australian parliamentarian slams Azerbaijan's Ottoman policy against Armenians

PanARMENIAN.Net - The longest serving member of Australia's New South Wales State Parliament, Rev. Fred Nile, declared in a Parliamentary Statement that the Azerbaijani persecution of Nagorno Karabakh Armenians was based upon the genocidal policy undertaken by the Ottoman Turkish Government against Armenians in the early part of the 20th century, Asbarez reported.

Nile, who recently attended the national Armenian Genocide commemoration in Sydney, rose in Parliament to describe the horrendous legacy of this crime against humanity.

“The lack of an appropriate punishment for the Ottoman perpetrators led their Turkic brethren in Azerbaijan to brazenly adopt the same genocidal policy with respect to the Armenians of Nagorno Karabakh,” he said.

Nile then described Azerbaijan’s continued threats against the civilian Armenian population of the Republic of Nagorno Karabakh, concluding that the only means of preventing a second Armenian Genocide was for the world to acknowledge Nagorno Karabakh’s independence.

“Tonight, in the New South Wales Parliament I place on record my support for the application of the principle of self-determination for the people and the Nagorno Karabakh Republic. The Azerbaijani Government announced it would shoot down civilian aircraft in Nagorno Karabakh, and Azerbaijani President Ilham Allyev declared that Azerbaijan would pursue a military solution to the issue of Nagorno Karabakh. These actions and threats prove that in order to prevent a second Armenian genocide and secure a lasting peace, the Nagorno Karabakh Republic must never be placed under Azerbaijani rule.”

“Never again must the Armenian people, particularly Armenian Christians, suffer the threat of genocide or experience it in any shape or form. I call on the nations of the world to support the people of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic in seeking self-determination and freedom to live and practice their religion, the Christian faith.”

In his statement, Nile also described the mass murder of Greeks and Assyrians in the early part of the 20th century as a defining example of genocide paving the way for the NSW Parliament to pass a motion acknowledging this historical reality.

Nile, who has earned the unofficial title “Father of the House” for serving in Parliament since 1981, was present at the 1997 sitting when the NSW Parliament passed the motion of the Armenian Genocide.