Dr Panayiotis Diamadis will present a lecture about the Treaty of Laussane, at the Greek Centre, on Thursday 26 July 2018, as part of the Greek History and Culture Seminars, offered by the Greek Community of Melbourne. 

The Treaty of Lausanne (24 July 1923), has shaped Hellenic-Turkish relations ever since, defining national borders and breeding an impressive set of myths around its terms and impacts. Lausanne also set a precedent in international law: the legal involuntary physical relocation of populations. This presentation has a two-fold purpose: (i) exploding some of the more prominent myths, to establish Lausanne’s central place in modern relations between Athens and Ankara; and in doing so, (ii) establish Lausanne as a milestone in international relations and law.

An Australian-born scholar, Dr Diamadis has been an active educator and researcher for 20 years. His doctorate is from The University of Sydney, his fourth qualification from that institution. Dr Diamadis’ doctoral thesis is titled Hellenism Under the Crescent: a case study of an ongoing genocide, examining Turkish government policy towards its indigenous Hellenic population from the 1300s to the 1990s. His particular research interest is the Genocides of the indigenous Hellenic, Assyria and Armenian peoples of the Middle East and Australian-Hellenic heritage around the eastern Mediterranean.

His latest published paper is titled ‘Friends in Crisis: Anzacs and Hellenism’ (Modern Greek Studies Vol 18, 2017), available at https://openjournals.library.sydney.edu.au/index.php/MGST/article/view/12688/11644

When: Thursday, 26July 2018, 7.00pm
Where: Greek Centre, (Mezzanine, 168 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne)