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While Armenian genocide recognition efforts have generated significant international attention, the parallel experiences of Greeks and Assyrians remain largely unknown or overlooked. This book presents the first comprehensive comparative analysis of how Armenians, Greeks, and Assyrians have campaigned for genocide recognition in Australia. In an original contribution to genocide studies, Themistocles Kritikakos examines the enduring legacies of the genocides they suffered in the late Ottoman Empire (1914 1923). The study broadens our understanding of genocide during this period and its aftermath, making a meaningful intervention in debates surrounding recognition and prevention.
Australia provides a distinctive case study where national narratives of reconciliation with Turkey around Gallipoli are in tension with genocide recognition campaigns, despite well-documented Australian eyewitness accounts, reports, and humanitarian relief efforts to support survivors.
Drawing upon extensive oral interviews with descendants of survivors and research in memory and genocide studies, the book explores the intergenerational effects of silence, forgetting, and memories of violence and displacement within families and communities in the diaspora. It examines commemorative practices, sites of memory, and coalition-building among the three diasporic communities.
Kritikakos sheds new light on how traumatic experiences are processed and negotiated across time and space. This study demonstrates how communities that once remembered their histories separately have created new forms of remembrance that strengthen their pursuit of recognition in contemporary Australia.
List of contents
1 Introduction.- 2 The Late Ottoman Genocides: Historical Context, Academic Discourse, and Legacy.- 3 The Tapestry of Trauma: Silence, Hints, and Storytelling in the Greek and Assyrian Experiences.- 4 Transforming Memories: The Intersection of Commemoration, Differences, and Monuments.- 5 Intercommunal Cooperation: Establishing a Shared Experience and Genocide Recognition.- 6 From Humanitarianism to Recognition: Australia and the Politics of Memory.- 7 Conclusion.
About the author
Themistocles Kritikakos is a historian and writer. He holds a PhD in History from the University of Melbourne, Australia, where he has worked in professional and academic roles.
