Assyria: Commemorating Martyrs Day
The Assyrian Community organises seminar on Assyrian Genocide and Simel Massacre with the participation of Armenian and Greek representatives to memorialize Martyrs Day.
Below is a press release published by the Assyrian Universal Alliance:
The Assyrian community will commemorate Martyrs Day next month. A memorial seminar will be held on August 7th [2012] to remember the loss of the Assyrian people during World War 1 Assyrian genocide and Simel massacre at State Parliament’s Theatrette Room.
The Assyrian Universal Alliance Australian Chapter (AUA) together with the Australian Institute for Holocaust and Genocide Studies (AIHGS) will be welcoming guest speakers and historical researcher on ethnic minorities, Dr. Racho Donef and Stavros Stavridis.
Other special guest includes Federal, State and Local politicians and representatives from the Armenian and Greek communities. U.S. filmmaker, Andre Anton, will be premiering his short film Defying Deletion after the seminar.
Formerly screening the documentary to U.S. Congress, Mr. Anton, hopes to receive political support from countries to promote freedom, democracy, human rights and religious liberty.
“If the United States and other countries fail to assist Assyrians in securing their human rights and assuring their survival in their ancient homeland, I fear that Assyrians will disappear from the world,” he said.
The multi-award winning film shows the struggles that the indigenous people of Iraq are facing today. AUA Deputy Secretary General, Hermiz Shahen, is asking for an apology from regions who committed brutal acts of genocide against the Assyrian people.
“We invite international humanitarian institutions to pressure Turkey to acknowledge and apologise for the atrocities they committed in 1915 against the Assyrians, Armenians and Greeks,” he said.
AUA youth chapter, The Young Assyrians, will be hosting an exclusive film premier event at Hoyts cinemas, Wetherill Park for youth audiences later in August.
http://www.unpo.org/article/14626