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By Michael Brissenden, The ABC 

One of the world's most vocal Armenian genocide deniers will make an address at Parliament House in Canberra next week.

The ABC has learnt that a committee room in Parliament House has been booked by Labor backbencher Laurie Ferguson for a special invitation-only address titled "What happened during 1915–1923?"

The address will be given by Professor Justin McCarthy, an American history professor who many Armenians view with the same disdain as Jews view Holocaust denier David Irving.

The ABC has seen an invitation to the presentation to be delivered by Professor McCarthy, who campaigns around the world against the recognition of the Armenian genocide.

April 2015 will be a significant month for several nations. While Australia and Turkey commemorate the centenary anniversary of the Gallipoli landing, Armenians will mark a centenary since the start of the darkest chapter of their history.

Genocide scholars say that from 1915 to 1923 more than 1 million Armenians lost their lives at the hands of the Ottoman empire.

Although it is known as the Armenian genocide, thousands of Assyrians and Pontian Greeks were also killed.

Turkey has long denied the charge and only recently pledged to ban the entire New South Wales Parliament from Gallipoli ceremonies after they unanimously passed a motion recognising the genocide.

A total of 22 nation states, including Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Russia and the Vatican, and dozens of state and provincial legislatures around the world, including New South Wales and South Australia, have formally recognised the genocide by Turkey between 1915 and 1922.

International bodies such as the World Council of Churches, the Council of Europe, the European Parliament and the International Association of Genocide Scholars have also recognised the genocide.


Bid for Australian parliament to recognise genocide

Despite some ferocious lobbying from the Turks, there has also been pressure from time to time from some in the Australian Federal Parliament to formally recognise the Armenian genocide.

Treasurer Joe Hockey is of Armenian descent and has on numerous occasions urged the parliament to do just that.

In 2011 he was joined by a handful of others, including Malcolm Turnbull and Labor's Michael Danby.

Mr Turnbull told the parliament that the Armenian genocide was one of the great crimes against humanity and resulted in "the elimination, the execution, the murder of hundreds of thousands - of millions of people - for no reason other than that they were different".

"In this case it was they were not Turks, just as the Jews were eliminated by the Nazis because they were not Germans," Mr Turnbull added.

Mr Hockey told the parliament: "This is not an issue of definition. Any systematic eradication of a race is genocide, regardless of the political or social unease it may bring."

Genocide scholar Panayiotis Diamadis says the local Armenian, Assyrian and Pontian Greek communities will be alarmed that such an address is being held in Parliament House.

"Anger, disgust that an official forum - such an official forum as Federal Parliament - is being given to a man who denies the memory of the victims, who denies that this genocide occurred," he said.

'No evidence, no proof', says controversial professor

Professor McCarthy's views are all over YouTube.

He says those who claim there was genocide have "no evidence, no proof that the Turks wanted to act in this way. What is said is based on emotion in this case and a desire to prove there is genocide instead of first looking at the facts.”

The ABC approached Mr Ferguson's office for comment but he is yet to respond.

None of those who have spoken in the parliament on this issue in the past, including both Mr Hockey and Mr Turnbull, wanted to add to what they have already said.

However, they certainly stand by the views they have already expressed.

It is clear the sensitivities surrounding Australia's relationship with Turkey is in focus as Gallipoli's centenary anniversary approaches.

However, it is understood another attempt will be made to get the Federal Parliament to recognise the genocide - after April 2015.