Turkish journalists about Armenian Genocide
“Respecting the importance of the Armenian Genocide Institute-Museum, I must say that I did not see anything new there,” confessed Hüseyin Hayatsever, a freelance journalist arrived from Turkey, in the conversation with “Aravot”. He talked to him after the visit to the Armenian Genocide Institute-Museum and the Genocide Memorial, which was planned by program of “Armenia-Turkey normalization process” supported by the “Eurasia Partnership” Foundation and EU financial assistance, in the framework of Media Bus tour with Armenian and Turkish journalists and bloggers.
Note that during the tour, Armenian and Turkish journalists and bloggers visited a number of cities in Turkey, and now the tour is continued in Armenia. Our interlocutor Hüseyin Hayatsever shared his impression from the visit to the Genocide Institute-Museum, saying that since from student years he was always interested in Armenian-Turkish relations and the historical past of the two countries, the museum did not discover much for him, he had seen some of the exhibits on the internet. He considered the fact that most of the museum was closed and he could not see the entire collection (now, repair and upgrading works are underway in the museum – the author). “I was sad when I visited the Genocide memorial. I was sad for the sufferings of those people,” he said.
It must be said that during the visit, the Armenian and Turkish journalists and bloggers also met with the Director of the facility, Hayk Demoyan, who during the conversation presented the importance and significance of raising the Armenian Genocide issue. “Many of our friends are disappointed that the director of the Museum said that you either should recognize the Armenian genocide or be silent. I was not disappointed because I was expecting this kind of treatment, because during our trip, I noticed that when the Turks are saying that the historians should study the issue, the Armenians are thinking that we are just trying to deny the truth, deny that people are killed. But in reality, many Turks do not deny that people are killed, they only alter the definition of what happened,” he said.
Read also
Our interlocutor refrained from using any word describing the event of 1915, he just said, “This is one of the most devastating events in the history, one of the worst events in our region.” When talking about the Armenian-Turkish normalization process, our Turkish colleague noted that, of course, the recent organized event can cause a real positive shift, but at the same time, he said, “We, the journalists, have the potential to change things, but our resources are limited, we are unable to change everything. We cannot change all people’s attitude on this matter. Until the politicians do not undertake steps, the relationship will not be better for one hundred percent. If the politicians do not decide to establish normal relations between the two countries, our efforts will eventually not produce positive results. However, this does not mean that we should not do anything. We, on our part, should do everything for normalization of this issue.”
Osman Ünalan, journalist for Today’s Zaman, in the conversation with us, also said that he was always interested in the Armenian Genocide topic, and he had always studied this topic. He added that there is no need to introduce the events to the Turkish society as a genocide, it may avoid them from understanding the issue. He expressed an opinion that the final solution of the matter depends on the tactics of politicians. If one day, they decide that they need to improve the relations between the two countries, then the issue will find its solution at once.
HRIPSIME HOVHANNISYAN
Photo by Sona Adamyan
