Premier weighs into diplomatic row sparked by state parliament's acknowledgement of 1915 genocide
The New South Wales premier, Barry O'Farrell, has poured fuel on a diplomatic row with Turkey, saying comments by the consul general on the threat to ban NSW politicians from Gallipoli commemorations were "a terrible indictment … of the freedoms fought for" in 1915.
Turkish officials have threatened to deny visas to NSW MPs because of the formal recognition by the state parliament of the 1915 genocide of Armenians, Greeks and Assyrians.
The Turkish consul general, Gulseren Celik, confirmed the threat to the ABC.
"We expect Australians to show the same kind of respect that we have shown to their history and their ancestry," she said. "Those individuals who show no respect to our history will not be welcome in Turkey."
O'Farrell said he would rather see the descendants of Anzac veterans than politicians at the commemoration services.
Both houses of the parliament passed motions in May which acknowledged and condemned the genocide of an estimated 1.5 million people at the hands of the Ottoman Turkish regime.
Only 21 nations have formally recognised the Armenian genocide. The Turkish government has long denied it.
The Gallipoli landings occurred within days of the start of the massacres and the motion, originally passed unanimously in the Legislative Council, has ruffled diplomatic feathers, with the Gallipoli centenary less than two years away. The Turkish ministry of foreign affairs responded in a press release a week later.
"We strongly condemn and reject this motion, which is in no way compatible with historic facts," the statement said. "The fact that this motion has been passed through a fait accompli by a local politician whose antagonism to Turkey in his attitude and behaviour is well-known, during a session at the state parliament attended by a small number of parliamentarians, shows how lightly and unsoundly such a sensitive issue is dealt with.
"These persons who try to damage the spirit of Çanakkale/Gallipoli will also not have their place in the Çanakkale ceremonies, where we commemorate together our sons lying side by side in our soil."
The leader of the Christian Democrat party, the Rev Fred Nile, who proposed the parliamentary motion, told the Guardian the comments from the consul general were "disgraceful".
"It's very disappointing that they would then try to ban any members of parliament who voted for the motion from attending any celebration at Gallipoli, and I hope they will review that," he said.
He said he proposed the motion because of his research into the events and experience with Australians of Armenian background.
Nile has previously warned of moves to "transform Australia into an Islamic country" and has referred to the 1915 events as "the Muslim genocide against Christian Armenians".
"Australia should always be willing to open its doors to Christians who are suffering persecution or who are at risk of persecution," he wrote in 2007. "We should reflect that life for Christians can be very fragile in any country dominated by Muslims."
Nile said he had planned to attend the 2015 ceremony and would still go if the Turkish government relented and granted visas to the NSW MPs.
O'Farrell's government has at times relied on Nile's party – which shares the balance of power in the NSW upper house – to pass controversial legislation.
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