The leader of the Edremit district of Van, Atif Cicekli, spoke about the issue of bathrooms being built in an Armenian cemetery on a Van local news channel.
The Turkish leader still continues to deny the fact that an Armenian cemetery existed there, even after the amount of controversy surrounding the issue.
“After the restrooms were built, they defamed us, saying that the seaside restrooms were built on top of a cemetery. Those sick people who do not fear Allah defamed us. The news is false,” Cicekli said.
The Turkish nationalist leader, who still refused to tear down the restrooms after the Turkish Minister of Culture demanded it, said that he “found the reason for the false news being spread.”
“Those lowly people who came up with this fallacy of an Armenian cemetery began a campaign against us in Europe. There are crypto-Armenians. We need to keep them at the center of our attention,” the Turkish leader said.
After controversy surrounded the issue, the Minister of Culture and Tourism, Numan Kurtulmus, announced in November of 2017 that the structures built upon the Armenian cemetery in Van need to be removed. The municipality, headed by Atif Cicekli, said that the bathrooms will not be removed since there was no Armenian cemetery there.
Ermenihaber.am