Dear friends,
On the 18th March, 2009, one Senator Alan Ferguson, a Liberal Senator from South Australia, uttered manure in the Federal Parliament, (page 87 of Hansard, attached) giving a ridiculous interpretation of history, and berating the Honourable Michael Atkinson, Minister for Justice in South Australia. Why? Because Minister Atkinson had the decency and fortitude to pay tribute to the 353,000 Pontic Hellenes, victims of the NeoTurk movement, lead by Mustafa Kemal Attaturk, that resulted in the Christian Genocide in the early part of the previous century.
Senator Ferguson was obviously influenced by a junket that the Turkish (military junta) Government organised for him (and who knows what happened there...).
The President of the Federation of Pontian Associations of Australia, Harry Tavlaridis, has written to this historically dyslexic Senator expressing the Federation's grave disappointment at his anathema. I implore that you too write to the Senator condemning his utterances. You can send your concerns via his e-mail at senator.ferguson@aph.gov.au. Please cc your letters to Harry Tavlaridis at harry@tavlaridis.com or to me (I will pass them on to Harry). We need a united approach to this travesty.
In light of this history distorter, the now (in)famous Senator Alan Ferguson, the man who has shamed the Australian Parliament for the sake of a junket to Turkey, we have prepared a petition. Please fill it in and pass this on to as many people from around the world. It will be submitted to the Parliament of Australia as well as the international media. The link to the petition is as follows:
http://www.gopetition.com/online/26406.html
Yours in Hellenism
Peter Jasonides