SYDNEY: Christian charity, Barnabas Fund has joined growing calls on Prime Minister Scott Morrison to recognise the Armenian Genocide, and initiated a petition that is being distributed through their network churches across the country, reported the Armenian National Committee of Australia (ANC-AU).

Barnabas Fund Australia is the local branch of a global organisation that is most well known for defending the human rights of persecuted and discriminated Christians through the provision of aid and by speaking out against the persecution of Christian minorities.

During meetings with the Armenian National Committee of Australia and the Armenian Missionary Association of Australia, Barnabas Fund Australia CEO Ashley Saunders revealed details of the global petition campaign from their organisation, which was calling on the United States, United Kingdom, Israel, New Zealand and Australia to recognise the systematic attempt to rid the world of the Armenians, Assyrians and Greeks as genocide.

The Australian version of the petition calls upon the Australian Government to “officially recognise as genocide the mass murder of Armenian, Assyrian, Syriac and Greek Christians in the Ottoman Empire before, during and after the first world war”.

ANC-AU has welcomed the solidarity of Barnabas Fund Australia, as pressure increases on the Australian Government in the lead-up to the 106th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.

“We applaud Barnabas Fund Australia for taking on this great initiative by calling on the Australian Government to join over 30 nations across the international community in recognising the 1915 Genocide the Armenians, Assyrians and Greeks,” said ANC-AU Executive Director Haig Kayserian.

Kayserian added: “We encourage all allies of justice to sign this petition and join our calls on Scott Morrison’s Government to recognise the Armenian Genocide.”

The Armenian National Committee of Australia wrote to Prime Minister Scott Morrison earlier this month, requesting his statement on the occasion of the 106th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide to accurately characterise the occasion.