Armenian genocide should be recognised

The Australian Christian Lobby has called on the Australian Government to recognise the Armenian genocide.

Managing Director Lyle Shelton said relations with Turkey were of course important but so too was recognising the truth about the 20th century's first genocide.

"At a time when Christians in the Middle East are again being murdered and persecuted because of their faith, remembering history accurately is one of the best ways of preventing history repeating itself," Mr Shelton said.

On the eve of the first ANZAC day, the then Ottoman Empire began systematically rounding up and killing Armenians.

It is estimated that 1.5 million were killed, kicking off what became the bloodiest century in world history.

According to Geoffrey Robertson, who has written a book on the genocide, Australian POWs from Gallipoli were eye-witnesses to death marches.

Despite saying 'never again' after the Jewish holocaust, the world is grappling with a less than adequate response to the mass religious cleansing and killing of Christians, Yazidis and Shia Muslims in Iraq and Syria at the hands of Islamic State.

The Armenian genocide commenced 100 years ago today under the cover of the allied landings on the Dardanelles in Turkey.