In an unprecedented development, seven Federal Members of Parliament rose in the House of Representatives on November 21, 22 and 23 to affirm the historical reality of the Armenian, Greek and Assyrian Genocides and call for Australian recognition of these crimes against humanity. MPs Craig Kelly, Malcolm Turnbull, Michael Danby and Joel Fitzgibbon -- new supporters of this fundamental issue of humanity -- joined their voices to long-time friends of the Armenian, Greek and Assyrian communities, MPs John Alexander, Joe Hockey and Paul Fletcher in paying tribute to the victims of the first genocide of the 20th century. The speeches coincided with the visit of a combined delegation of about 25 representatives including the Chairman of the ANC World Council, Mr. Hagop Der Khatchadourian, members of the ANC Australia National Board, ANC Australia Western Sydney, ANC Australia Melbourne, the Armenian Youth Federation, the Assyrian Universal Alliance, Young Assyrians of the AUA , and the Australian Hellenic Council campaigned in the largest ever Advocacy Week which brought together representatives of the Armenian, Greek and Assyrian communities of Australia. In a joint effort, the three delegations met with over 30 members of the Senate and Federal Parliament pursuing support for Australian recognition of the Armenian, Greek and Assyrian Genocides in Canberra. In his first parliamentary speech on this issue, the Member for Hughes, Craig Kelly, spoke in detail about the genocidal policies of the Ottoman Empire against its Armenian, Greek and Assyrian populations. "The Armenian Genocide and the related Assyrian and Greek Genocides were the result of a deliberate and systematic campaign against the Christian minorities of the Ottoman Empire between 1914 and 1923," Kelly said. "Aside from the deaths, Christian minorities of the Ottoman Empire had their wealth and property confiscated without compensation. Businesses and farms were lost, and schools, churches, hospitals and monasteries became the property of the Ottoman Empire." The Member for Hughes underlined the importance for Australia to recognise this crime against humanity. "It is now time for our parliament to join other parliaments around the world and recognise these genocides for what they were," Kelly stated. The Member for Wentworth, Malcolm Turnbull, also delivering his first parliamentary speech on this issue, welcomed the representatives of ANC Australia, AHC and AUA in the public gallery of the Chamber of the House of Representatives. "They are assembled here, as we are, to lament what was one of the great crimes against humanity, not simply a crime against the Greeks, the Assyrians and the Armenians but a crime against humanity--the elimination, the execution, the murder of hundreds of thousands of millions of people for no reason other than that they were different. This type of crime, this sort of genocidal crime, is something that sadly is not unique in our experience," Turnbull said. The Member for Wentworth reflected on the Ottoman Empire's record of multiculturalism of which these genocidal crimes constituted an aberration. "We lament today great crimes but also the loss of diversity and the loss of tolerance," Turnbull said. The Member for Melbourne Ports and Chairman of the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade, Michael Danby, affirmed the historical reality of the Armenian Genocide during a debate in the House of Representatives on a motion related to the 1995 genocide in Srebrenica. "