The Punch Australia-based daily published an article by Sassoon Grigorian, urging victims of Holocaust to recognize the Armenian Genocide.

“The State of Israel, created after the Holocaust, remarkably has yet to come to terms with recognizing the first Genocide of the 20th century, the Armenian Genocide. The Genocide resulted in the deaths of 1.5 million Armenian men, women and children and took place at the hands of the then-Ottoman government, the fore-bearers of the modern Turkish republic. Turkey denies a Genocide took place,” the author said.

“Israel’s and Turkey’s strategic relationship thus far has prevented any real progress, despite calls for recognition by: Israeli politicians Reuven Rivlin, Haim Oron and Yossi Sarid; respected Holocaust scholars Yair Auron, Israel Charny and Yehuda Bauer, Australia’s own Colin Tatz, and many others.

The issue of recognition has been a point of contention for as three decades, when in 1982 at a Holocaust and Genocide conference in Tel Aviv, the Armenian Genocide was to be discussed.

The Turkish government pressured Israel to remove references regarding the Armenians, and Israel yielded. Organisers removed six of the 150 lectures focusing on the Armenian Genocide from the official program as well as keeping all discussion of the Armenian Genocide “unofficial”. That was not appropriate, and many delegates withdrew from the conference.

The absolute low point for Israel was a few years ago when then Foreign Minister and current President, Shimon Peres visited Turkey and according to Turkish media reports said: “What the Armenians went through is a tragedy, but not Genocide.” Peres did not retract the statement. That was a major stain on a country long respected for promoting awareness of Genocide, so that future generations would not repeat the horror,” the article stressed.

“Respected Israeli scholar Yair Auron and author of The Banality of Indifference: The Attitude of the Yishuv and the Zionist Movement to the Armenian Genocide said: “Everyone would agree that Israel has no right to bargain with the memory of the Holocaust. But, even more, it has no right - by no means, in any circumstance, and much less so than any other country - to bargain with the memory of another victim group. And yet Israel did just that with the Armenian Genocide. Israel is contributing to the process of Genocide denial and by doing so, it also betrays the memory and the legacy of the Holocaust.”

Turkey should be nervous as Israel attunes its moral compass on a matter it knows personally - The Shoah - Holocaust, and Genocide. The time has come for Israel - who has long championed genocide awareness - to once and for all recognize one of history’s darkest chapters,” the author urged.