The law adopted by the French Senate that provides for legal punishment for those who deny the Genocide was welcomed joyfully both inArmeniaand the Diaspora. However, naturally, it couldn’t have been received so enthusiastically by the Armenians who live inTurkey. As early as in December Hrant Dink’s brother Orhan Dink called for opposing that bill, he even said that the bill was offensive, “Don’t have our sorrow be played with like a toy in the hands of foreigners.” After the bill was passed Aravot contacted with Ara Gochunian, the editor of “Zhamanak” (time) Daily Newspaper issued inTurkey. We inquired how Armenians fromTurkeyhad reacted to the news of passing that bill by the French Senate. Mr. Gochunian noted that Armenians in Turkey had certainly followed that whole process, but the attitude was a bit different from the others’, since the Armenians from Turkey saw the issue from the perspective what it would give to our nations, at the end of the day and they were the supporters of not the short-term, but the long-term solution. And the long-term solution, according to Turkish Armenians, is the establishment of normal, regular relations between Armenia and Turkey, whereas today “there was no dialogue, no communication between the two neighboring countries, except for issues on the agenda and in that case the participation and influence, even sometimes manipulations of third countries is unavoidable.” Saying “third country”, our compatriots living inTurkeymean generally all countries that are involved in the Armenian-Turkish relations in this way or another.
Mr. Gochunian thinks that the Turkish Armenian community looked forward to the signing of the protocols signifying the normalization of the Armenian-Turkish relations and they are very sorry for its failure now, regardless of who is “to blame” and who let it be so, “If the protocols were realized, it would give a very good opportunity to establish relations between the two countries and as the Turkish side usually expresses this desire, if third countries did not interfere.” Ara Gochunian appreciates Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan’s consistency in that issue and the policy of “keeping the doors open” and notes that the Armenian side, nonetheless, showed more willingness to materialize the protocols.
As for whether as a result of the bill passed by the French Senate, Turkish Armenians feel or will feel any difference in the attitude of the Turkish society and the Turkish government, according to Gochunian, since Turkey became a republic and till now “today’s establishment stands out” with its favorable attitude toward the minorities, their culture and heritage. These days, according to Gochunian, the minorities ofTurkeyhave started to feel “a part of that country as a whole and not a strange element”, therefore, in that regard the editor of Zhamanak doesn’t see “any worrying things.” Many things inside the Turkish society have changed too, one may say and discuss such topics, on which any conversation would have been unbelievable many years ago. He gave an example of Millet Turkish newspaper’s publication of the interview with Patrick Devedjian, a member of the French National Assembly, a French Armenian who is famous for his anti-Turkish speeches. Furthermore, during the interview it was talked about the Genocide, the bill put forward in the Senate and other subjects that had been perceived very hard and impermissible in the Turkish society until recently.
