‘They want to turn to their religion. But they should turn to be Australians'

This chapter discusses the conflict surrounding recognition of the deaths of Armenians during the First World War as genocide. It demonstrates that two separate narratives have been created: the Armenian genocide narrative which argues that the Ottoman Empire's government committed genocide against Armenians in the Ottoman Empire during the First World War. The second narrative is the Turkish historical narrative which argues that Armenian deaths during the First World War were the result of anti-insurgent tactics undertaken by the Ottoman Empire's government to quell an Armenian uprising. Australia can play an important role in creating a sense of belonging for Armenian-Australians through recognition of the Armenian genocide. The main Armenian-Australian lobbying organisation is Armenian National Committee (ANC)-Australia. ANC-Australia contends that Turkey actively advocates and pursues Pan-Turanism and its actions towards the Republic of Armenia are part of this policy. Pan-Turanism is also evident from Turkey's attitude and cultural repression of Armenians in Turkey, including ongoing destruction of Armenian cultural heritage.