On September 23, the Cezayir complex in Istanbul hosted the ceremony of awarding an Istanbul-based Armenian, talented intellectual, philologist, writer and publicist Sevan Nshanyan’s family a medal of “William Saroyan” of the RA Ministry of Diaspora. Renowned political, public and cultural figures were invited, including Turkish lawmaker Selina Doğan with her husband Erdal Doğan, President of “Anadolu Kültür” foundation Osman Kavala, Ufuk Uras, Armenian representative of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Arsen Avagyan. The event was moderated by journalist Hrant Gasparian.
The event covered several speeches, among others, also Selina Doğan Dogan and Nshanyan’s lawyer Ergin Cinmen. RA NA MP, President of “Veradardz” Foundation Aragats Akhoyan handed over the medal of Sevan Nshanyan to the lawyer.
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Cinmen mentioned in his speech that Nshanian is the only person who was accused of allegedly carrying out illegal construction, while the true reasons are different, he was convicted of being a courageous Armenian. He emphasized that not only the country’s Minister of Justice is responsible for the imprisonment of Nshanyan but also the highest instances and the human rights activists.
Since Nshanyan’s mother – Sona Nshanian – had a respectable age and therefore was unable to physically attend the event, she had sent her video-message. She expressed her joy for the award of “William Saroyan” medal to her son and expressed regret, “I wish he were with us this day.” On this day, in defense of Sevan Nshanyan, also messages were sent by Aram Hambaryan, Executive Director of the ANCA of Washington Office, and historian Dr. Tessa Hofmann who was awarded by the RA President decree a prize in 2013 for his study in the Armenian Genocide issue and for his active social activities in this sphere. NA MP Aragats Akhoyan mentioned in his speech, “Today, we are here to award a freedom-loving person a medal of another freedom-loving thinker carrying the name of William Saroyan. Therewith, the RA Ministry of Diaspora duly appreciates Sevan Nshanyan’s nation-devoted activities, which is totally a blind devotion to the preservation and development of Armenian preservation, the language and the culture.
Being the holder of Istanbul-Armenian high cultural values, Sevan Nisanyan has used his rich experience and knowledge in service to the solution of global problems. This is evidenced by his “Book of Small Hotels”, “Genealogical Tree of Words” and a number of other fundamental works. The talented scientist has a great contribution to the studying and development of Turkish language. His fundamental work “A Genealogical Dictionary of the Turkish Language” is unprecedented in the entire Turkish history. Detention of such an intellectual as Sevan Nshanyan shows that we can no longer continue to live like before, and Turkish society needs to be healed. Eventually, the regional developments also demand it. Why be sworn friends when we can just be friends. Armenian and Turkish peoples are doomed to live together by fate and by history, so why not to color the future together by removing the dark glasses. This is what the progressive intellectuals gathered in Taksim Square every year dream about it, this is what Armenians and Turks supporting Sevan Nshanian want: İsmail Beşikçi, Fikret Başkaya, Ali Nesan, Sait Çetinoğlu, Ragıp Zarakolu, Ahmet Önal and others. For Nshanyan, they have rightly demanded the right to life and free expression enshrined in the Turkish Constitution.
Sevan Nisanyanhas has crushed stereotypes like Hrant Dink and others, as a holder of free and reasonable values, he had become an example of a not vindictive, fearless and unconstrained thinking for the Armenian and Turkish people. Once, Hrant Dink was also giving importance to restoring the broken relationships of the past, he used to say that it is possible to find mutually beneficial economic and cultural platforms to bring the two countries closer. Unfortunately, Turkey’s current policy does not allow for such a possibility, Turkey does not want to face its past, while it is the shortest way to move ahead. So far, we are on the cultural diplomacy platform, which can also change a climate but we both are obligated to overcome many complexes.”
Gohar HAKOBYAN, Istanbul
