New book examines Armenian, Greek and Assyrian Genocide recognition in Australia

2026-02-05 - 15:06

Historian Themistocles Kritikakos offers the first comprehensive comparative study of Armenian, Greek and Assyrian Genocide recognition efforts in 21 century Australia. Published by Palgrave Macmillan as part of the Palgrave Studies in the History of Genocide series, Armenian, Greek, and Assyrian Genocide Recognition in Twenty-First-Century Australia: Memory, Identity, and Cooperation examines how diaspora communities have worked to preserve historical memory and pursue recognition of the late Ottoman genocides (1914–1923). While the Armenian Genocide has received significant international recognition, the book highlights how the experiences of Greeks and Assyrians remain comparatively overlooked. Drawing on oral interviews with descendants of survivors and scholarship in memory and genocide studies, Kritikakos explores intergenerational silence, commemorative practices, sites of memory and coalition-building across communities. The study also situates recognition efforts within the Australian context, where early humanitarian responses to the atrocities coexisted with — and at times conflicted with — national narratives centered on the Gallipoli Campaign and reconciliation with Turkey. By tracing how communities that once remembered their traumatic pasts separately have increasingly developed shared narratives, the book sheds light on the evolving politics of memory, identity and cooperation in the diaspora. The e-book edition was published in January 2026, with a hardcover edition currently available. For more information on how to purchase the book, please visit the publisher’s website.