Tasmanian Parliament the third in Australia to recognise Armenian genocide

The genocide and ethnic cleansing that occurred during collapse of Ottoman Empire by Ottoman Turks and Kurds took the lives of 1.5 million Armenians, 1 million Greeks and 750,000 Syrians between 1915 and 1923.

Bass Liberal MHR Lara Alexander, who brought the motion to the house, said the genocide nearly destroyed the Christian communities in the Ottoman Empire and almost entirely destroyed the Armenian nation.

READ MORE: Police's plea as search for missing teenager continues

She said the event not only resulted in deportations and massacres throughout the Ottoman Empire, but death marches to concentration camps, sexual violence and forced slavery.

"Despite the scale and brutality of the genocide, it was largely ignored by the international community at that time," Ms Alexander said.

She said there were some individuals and organisations, including those from Tasmania, who spoke out about the genocide and provided aid to affected Armenians, Syrians and Greeks.

READ MORE: Hospital under scrutiny as image of taped-up equipment surfaces

Ms Alexander said a relief fund committee, formed in Tasmania in 1920, raised money for aid and an orphanage for surviving children, which provided shelter, food and education.

Premier Jeremy Rockliff said the Armenian genocide was the first genocide of the 20th Century.

He said the genocide had been formally recognised by 34 United Nation states.

READ MORE:Alleged murder victim Shane Barker feared retaliation

Mr Rockliff said through Ms Alexander's motion, Tasmanian Parliament had joined parliaments in South Australia and New South Wales to formally recognise the tragic event and the ongoing suffering that continued to be felt by respective communities.

Labor leader Rebecca White said there had been an untold number of tragedies and atrocities since the Armenian genocide.

"The passing of people who live through such dark times inevitably diminishes the immediate memory of these events, but they must never diminish the horror or historical significance of these events," she said.

"We must strive to keep them in our minds and to learn from them as we go forward to help stamp out such crimes against humanity and to stop them from happening again." Ms White paid respect to the Commonwealth of Australia, including Tasmania, which welcomed orphans and other survivors of the genocide to the country as refugees.

Greens leader Cassy O'Connor said presently there were unspeakable atrocities across the world against many innocent people. "We continue to witness attempted genocide of the Tibetans, the Uyghurs, the Palestinians, and the Rohingya people of Burma," she said.

"Even today, after 108 years after the Armenian Genocide, the Armenian people continue to face an existential crisis of survival."

The motion was moved before members of the Australian Armenian Association and Tasmanian Greek community seated in the chamber.

Why not have your say? Write a letter to the editor here:

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: