Alex Hawke (Mitchell, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Immigration and Border Protection) Share this | Hansard source

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of official relations between Australia and Turkey. On 4 October 1967 the Australian immigration minister, Billy Snedden, and the Turkish ambassador, Baha Vefa Karatay, signed an assisted migration agreement which paved the way for thousands of Turks to come to Australia as guest workers. I want to speak a little bit about our historic relations given those 50 years of shared history.

Like every other immigrant community, the Turks have worked hard and have helped build Australia as we know it today. Today there are more than 150,000 Australians of Turkish descent calling Australia home. Australia's history with Turkey goes back to way before the 1967 agreement, as all of us here are patently aware. Given the Centenary of Anzac that we marked in 2015 and the commemorations that continue, I want to provide a few examples of some of the shared stories that mark the journey of Australian and Turkish relations over the years.

I want to speak of a young surgeon from Victoria who was seeking adventure in Europe and enlisted in the Ottoman army during the 1877 Battle of Pleven. Charles Snodgrass Ryan received the highest of the Ottoman military honours for his service. On his return, as the story goes, he treated Ned Kelly, who was wounded during the infamous shootout in Glenrowan in 1880. Ryan returned to Turkey in 1915, this time as a surgeon with the AIF in Gallipoli. During a ceasefire, Turks in the trenches were intrigued to see an Australian officer wearing Ottoman army medals, supervising the burial of Turks. Once they learned of Ryan's story, they all lined up to pay him respect.

Meanwhile in Gallipoli, a commander with the Turkish forces, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, and a commander with the British troops, Stanley Melbourne Bruce, were on opposite sides. Bruce would become the eighth Prime Minister of Australia in 1923—the same year that Mustafa Kemal Ataturk and his friends founded the new Turkish republic. The two men's paths crossed again at the international conference on the Turkish Straits. Bruce was chairing the League of Nations meeting in 1936 that set the status of the Turkish Straits. They admired each other as statesmen. They shared the common vision for world order. Mustafa Kemal Ataturk's present to Bruce was a gold cigarette case that, according to some accounts, Bruce carried until the time of his death, where he had two photos—one of his wife and one of Ataturk.

In 2015, we celebrated and commemorated the centenary of Anzac. Now, in 2017, where we were once old foes, we have developed a friendship out of a shared tragedy. Turks attended Anzac Day services. Australians of Turkish descent were touched by Ataturk's letter to Anzac mothers—that famous letter which we all know now by heart, with the quote, 'Having lost their lives on this land, they have become our sons as well.'

In 1951, Anzacs and Turks were on the same side in Korea at Kapyong. They even planned a joint Anzac ceremony that wouldn't go ahead due to the Battle of Kapyong. In 1967, after years of diplomatic work, this time Turkey sent its sons and daughters to Australia. They provided much-needed labour and helped propel our economy in a growing phase post-World War II.

Turkey and Australia remain allies in the global war on terrorism. Turkey, obviously, is at the forefront of refugee resettlement in the region. Trade between our countries is booming. The 1967 agreement, 50 years on, paved the way for the relations between our countries and the relationship spanning the modern history of both nations. (Time expired)

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