SYDNEY PROTEST: Armenian-Australians unite in defiance of Protocols

By armenia.com.au | Wednesday, 07 October 2009

SYDNEY: The Armenian-Australian community's three political parties, the Social Democrat Hunchakian Party (SDHP), the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) and the Armenian Democratic Liberal Party (Ramgavar), have issued a united call to supporters requesting their presence at Saturday's protest against the Armenia-Turkey Protocols.

The Sydney protest to 'STOP THE PROTOCOLS', which will be held this Saturday 10 October at Santa Rosa Park's HMEM Ararat Club (Ryde), joins a global effort by Diaspora communities to stop under-pressure President Serzh Sargsyan from signing the document which is deemed to be detrimental to the century-old Armenian fight for justice.

In the last week, crowds of between 1,000 and 20,000 people in Paris, Buenos Aires, New York, Los Angeles and Beirut, have gathered to voice their opposition to the Protocols.

Australia's three central political forces released the following joint statement on Wednesday:

"Armenia has been placed under intense, undue pressure to sign protocols with Turkey which will jeopardise the rights of Armenians throughout the world. As a public demonstration of defiance, a rally has been organised in Sydney to protest these unjust protocols.

"This public gathering further reinforces that the main political forces in the Australian-Armenian community are opposed to provisions of the protocols, which we collectively believe will endanger Armenia's national security and violate the nation's historical rights."

Meanwhile, the Armenian Youth Federation of Australia has released results from a WEB POLL (www.ayfaustralia.org), which asked community members:

"Do you agree with Serzh Sargsyan wanting to sign the Armenia-Turkey Protocols?"

An emphatic 96% from nearly 1,000 voted NO. This follows an online petition by the ARF which collected 1,500 signatures also saying NO to the Protocols.