Turkey angry at Aussie politician
Turkey’s ambassador has officially complained to the Australian government over a speech a state cabinet minister made to 40 people at a Greek community function. What did South Australian Attorney-General Michael Atkinson say that prompted Turkey to go ballistic?
He recalled the bloody past of Turkey’s national hero.
The Turks are seething over remarks Mr Atkinson made about the role of one of the country’s towering figures, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, in the tragedy that engulfed its Pontian or Black Sea Greek minority between 1915 and 1922.
Kemal was the commander who broke the hearts of the Anzacs at Gallipoli and then held out a hand to Australia by declaring its fallen soldiers would forever be sons of Turkey. He is revered in his homeland as the founder of the modern Turkish republic.
After doing the honours at the launch of a plaque commemorating what he called the “genocide” of Pontian Greeks by Turkish nationalists led by Kemal’s forces — a contention flatly rejected by Ankara — Mr Atkinson poured petrol on the flames by declaring that anyone who disputed this version of history was practising a form of “holocaust denial”.
When Alan Ferguson, Deputy President of the Senate, criticised Mr Atkinson’s speech, Australian Greeks became outraged. After Mr Ferguson apologised, it was the Turks’ turn to be outraged.
Mr Atkinson, however, has not backed down.
h/t: Tongue Tied 3
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