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Ayse Gunaysu

Ayse Gunaysu

Ayse Gunaysu is a professional translator, human rights advocate, and feminist. She has been a member of the Committee Against Racism and Discrimination of the Human Rights Association of Turkey (Istanbul branch) since 1995, and is a columnist for Ozgur Gundem. Since 2008, she writes a column titled "Letters from Istanbul," for the Armenian Weekly.

23 Comments

  1. As a descendant of survivors who fled from Bitlis to Adar Pazar/Ismidt
    it’s great to believe that a revival is possible.

  2. I would greatly appreciate a detailed map of Kharpert(preferably in English) showing cities, towns and villages such that I could make a copy to study, especially the village of Khouloo, my parant’s former home.Thank you in advance. (734) 455-4828

  3. Wonderful article that gives one hope of justice for all that inhabit this land. I especially appreciate the mention that returning of properties and land should be done in a way that benefits all. As an Armenian, I welcome the idea of reparations for what was lost in the Armenian Genocide, but done in such a way that is considerate of those Turks and Kurds that live on that land now. Yes, it may not be pure justice, i.e. as these properties and lands were stolen from Armenians through genocide, but I personally would not want to benefit at the expense of people now that really had nothing to do with the Genocide. Rather, I would hope that arrangements can be accommodated such that all people involved can benefit from the exchange. Not saying this will be easy, but it is the way that in the long run I believe will be best.

  4. Thank you. God bless all of you.
    It’s very touchy and impressive subject.
    My ancestors are from Mounjousoun, near Talas and Siirt south west of Bitlis.
    With love,
    Bedros Zerdelian

  5. Dear Bedros, I was greatly moved to see the name of the village your ancestors were from: Mounjousoun. In Turkish/Kurdish they call Mancısın. I was moved because the mother of Maritsa Kucuk, the old Armenian lady killed in her home brutally in Samatya, Istanbul, on 28th December 2012, was from Mancısın. The mother was first made to marry to a Muslim man, but after his death (whereafter the family of her Muslim husband stole from her two children) she married to another genocide survivor, Khatchig and had four children. One of them was Maritsa Kucuk who fell victim of a hate crime – continuation of the Genocide. I thank all others who commented on the article for their appreciation I hope I deserve. Ayse

    • “One of them was Maritsa Kucuk who fell victim of a hate crime – continuation of the Genocide.”

      A big call Ms Gunaysu! Particularly in light of media reports that Murat Nazaryan (a Turkish/Armenian) was identified by one of the victims and physical evidence was found in his home. Has any other hard evidence surfaced that should be brought to public attention with respect to this case?

    • There is absolutely no independent corroboration of evidence that Murat Nazaryan is the one responsible.
      The announcement by Turkish police that there a blood match is a lie, unless independently verified.
      All we have is the word of the perennially lying Denialist Turkish State.
      All eyewitness accounts indicate multiple individuals involved in the attacks: at least one perpetrator and one ‘lookout’ guy.
      At best, Murat Nazaryan is a mentally unstable patsy used by whoever organized these hate-crime murders of Armenians.
      Also, Murat Nazaryan has retracted his ‘confession’, which he states was obtained under duress.
      The purported motive for the attack, robbery, does not match the viciousness of the attacks on these frail, elderly women, who could not possibly offer any resistance to a robber.

      Why would the Turkish court seal the results of the investigation into these murders if it is an open-and-shut case ?

      The whole Turkish denialist system is corrupt: the courts, the cops, everybody.
      How is it that the real organizers of the Hrant Dink conspiracy murder have not been identified ?
      You denialist Turks actually believe the idiot Ogün Samast did it on his own ?

      Despite all the evidence and eyewitness testimony that Sevag Balıkçı’s murder was premeditated, the corrupt Turkish court ruled that Sevag’s death was accidental.

      When it comes to Armenians and Armenian issues, every action by the corrupt Denialist Turkish State is suspect, unless proved otherwise.

    • PART2

      From article @TZ:
      [Was Nazaryan alone in the attacks against elderly Armenian women?]
      (ORHAN KEMAL CENGİZ 28 November 2013)

      {However, as soon as families of the victims started to get involved in the case, some suspicious elements started to emerge once again. The prosecutor, for example, declared the file confidential and barred victims from accessing the file.}

      {. … Nazaryan remained silent [during] the first two hearings. The only thing he said was, ‘I didn’t kill anyone.’ At the hearing on Nov. 4, 2013, the truth began to slowly emerge. Maritsa Küçük was killed by three people who had taken Nazaryan along by force. They had guns. … [Nazaryan] mentioned gangs. He said he had kept silent because he was bullied and frightened}

  6. Your being rather hysterical and nonsensical Avery. There is no such thing as a reverse onus of proof – “unless otherwise proved”. Criminal law simply doesn’t work that way.

    Secondly, you state:
    “Murat Nazaryan is a mentally unstable patsy”
    then go onto say:
    “The purported motive for the attack, robbery, does not match the viciousness of the attacks on these frail, elderly women, who could not possibly offer any resistance to a robber.”

    So logically disconnected it defies comprehension. Mentally unstable people have been known to commit vicious crimes. We simply do not know in this instance. How is it that you have become so definitive?

    The TZ article raises questions that should be investigated. It may be serious or it may be the ramblings of a mental patient. But by itself it says nothing about implicating the state or particularly about continuation of a genocide as unequivocally stated by Ms. Gunaysu. Furthermore, active criminal files are often confidential including from the victims families. Nothing controversial with that.

    Nevertheless, I asked a question of Ms. Gunaysu about a how she arrived at her conclusion in the absence of a proven premise. Hopefully she will enlighten us.

  7. Ms. Gunaysu, I have been wanting to thank you for your contributions to the Armenian Weekly for quite some time now. This article has moved so much that that time is now. I always look forward to your articles and commend you on your assistance in the acquisiton of Justice for the Armenian Genocide. God Bless and keep you. Achked Louys!!

  8. I would like to thank Mr. Ara Sarafian.
    This exhibition is such vital work in educating those who now live on our ancestral homelands. It shows how the Armenians were such an integral part of this landscape from the beginning of time.
    Keep up the good work. Vartsked Gadar!!

  9. {“ Your being rather hysterical and nonsensical Avery. There is no such thing as a reverse onus of proof – “unless otherwise proved”. Criminal law simply doesn’t work that way.”}

    The one being hysterical and nonsensical is you, Zeki.
    Re-read your own posts, and mine.

    {“ How is it that you have become so definitive?”}
    {“…in light of media reports that Murat Nazaryan (a Turkish/Armenian) was identified by one of the victims and physical evidence was found in his home.”}( Zeki // March 30, 2014 at 9:57 pm //)

    How is it that you yourself have become so definitive ?
    Based on what ?
    Based on what the corrupt Anti-Armenian Turkish cops leaked to the press ?
    How is your ‘media reports’ reference any more definitive than this: {“… At the hearing on Nov. 4, 2013, the truth began to slowly emerge. Maritsa Küçük was killed by three people who had taken Nazaryan along by force.”}? (OKC @TZ)

    I gave you two other definitive examples of murders committed against Turkish-Armenians that were covered up by the habitually lying Turkish State.
    When an entity consistently lies, one must assume it lies in this case as well, unless there is incontrovertible evidence to the contrary.
    Not only there is no evidence to the contrary, but there is ample reason for well founded disbelief in anything the Turkish law enforcement bodies present as evidence implicating Murat Nazaryan.

    Your Denialitus addled brain is incapable of understanding a simple logical preposition: {“ There is no such thing as a reverse onus of proof – “unless otherwise proved”. Criminal law simply doesn’t work that way.}( Zeki // March 31, 2014 at 9:39 am //)

    In a normal society, that would be true.
    Not for the Denialist State of Turkey, its employees, and the super-majority denialist society therein: it is not a normal society.
    The entire country is based on lies.
    The Denialist State of Turkey is based on lies: the State and its employees are assumed to be lying when it concerns crimes against Armenians.

    You want enlightenment from Ms. Gunaysu ?
    Here, enlighten yourself.
    [Gunaysu: The Reign of Lies in Turkey]
    http://armenianweekly.com/2012/05/11/gunaysu-the-reign-of-lies-in-turkey/

    You want more enlightenment ?
    Read OKC’s article @TZ: he answered your desperate attempt to whitewash hate-crimes against Armenians 6 months ago.

    Anything bad that happens to Armenians in Turkey _has_ to be assumed to be an Anti-Armenian hate crime, by definition.
    Here is why:
    1895: 300,000 Armenian civilians murdered by Turks; hate crime.
    1909: 30,000 Armenian civilians murdered by Turks; hate crime.
    1915-1923: 1,500,000 Armenian civilians subjected to Genocide; the Mother of all Hate Crimes.

  10. Here’s my answer to Zeki:
    I and my friends are personally with the victim’s family from the first day. We are following closely the investigation and the legal process. Küçük family’s lawyer Eren Keskin has been asking the court at every hearing why the public prosecutor didn’t included the 3 other attacks on elderly Armenian ladies and why didn’t the police started any investigation on the cases. These happened within one and a half month. The common characteristic of attacks were that they were old, they were women and they were Armenian. We personally talked to the families of other victims. They all told us that (including Maritsa Kucuk’s family) although they (the perpetrators) had enough time in the victim’s flat they didn’t search anything, they didn’t even take the banknotes on the table. The police from the first date asked the Kucuk family to keep silent and not to talk anyone. THey didn’t. During our visit two days after the killing and the funeral in the church we repeatedly offered help, but they avoided us for two months, listening to the police. But when Nazaryan was caught, they themselves called me (I had given them my phone number) because it was clear that the whole thing would be covered up – catching a helpless, homeless, jobless, drug addict Armenian to shut our mouths. I repeat: The police didn’t even opened any formal investigation for Turfanda Aşık, who stayed in the intensive care unit for weeks, and lost one eye as a result of severe beating going on for many minutes, punching on the head. Her granddaughter said: “My yaya is an Anatolian woman, so tidy, not even a drawer was opened”. The person thought she was dead, so he escaped. Turfanda Aşık was beaten for minutes, kicked and dragged she had her purse in her hand but the person didn’t even attempt to take the purse. The attacks were not that of a robbery. The families are sure of that. You, Zeki, I will not answer your questions any further. But what did you done when you heard the brutal killing of Maritsa Kucuk, a granddaughter of a genocide survivor. What have you done for her and for her family. Her children are living on pills. Have you seen them, have you talked to them, have you asked them what police said for weeks – to keep silent and not talk to anyone? Have you given one minute of your life to look into the case closer?

  11. Your acts in helping the families affected are certainly commendable Ms Gunaysu. The problem is that you appear to have relied on anecdotal evidence sufficient to support your position. At best you have exposed sloppy police work but not much more. So suggesting that these criminal cases are “continuation of the Genocide” is drawing an extremely long bow and one that you simply cannot substantiate with anything other than anecdotal evidence.

    To answer your question, which is a poorly veiled attempt at ad hominem by the way. No, I haven’t done anything for the families. But so what, does that change the legitimacy of the question I posed to you? Surely you can’t expect unsubstantiated comments to go unchallenged.

    • The entire non-anecdotal ‘evidence’ the denialist Zeki has relied on is this:

      {“….Particularly in light of media reports…”}

      As is to be expected from the Delialitis addled mind of a barrister who received his law degree from Turkish Hysterical University, Halaçoğlu School of Law, Ms. Gunaysu’s close, personal involvement with the case, including the victims, the kin of the victims, the attorneys, the police, etc carries less weight than this non-anecdotal ‘evidence’:

      {“….Particularly in light of media reports…”}

      Oh yeah, “media reports” is definitely non-anecdotal ‘evidence’.
      Of course it is.

      Surely you can’t expect denialist shills to go unchallenged on the Comment pages of ArmenianWekkly, can you, Zeki ?

  12. Zeki, you talk like tne Turkish History Authority (TTK) who continuously ask for a document proving the Genocide. Or the Turkish government asking for a document evidencing the bribery. Or the French insurance company (I forgot the name)back in 1915 asking for death certificates to pay the compensation of the Armenians massacred in valleys, rivers, during the death march. I am talking about the big picture. Armenian Genocide survivors in Anatolia were step by step subjected to deportations sometimes by official orders, sometimes by threats by some kind of gangs threatening people, burning their houses, so that a considerable number of Armenian households from Kayseri, Tokat, Adana, Antep, Diyarbakır etc. (Read Talin Suciyan’s doctoral thesis, it will be published soon in English) They mainly came to Istanbul and mainly settled in Samatya. They are concentrated so that they can be an easy target and easily controlled, monitored, recorded. They have been living there feeling unsafe, feeling always under pressure to prove their loyalty, careful not to be nvolved in politics in any way, under an overwhelming official and also civil denialist world – denialism firmly established as a way of living in Turkey (but of course you are not aware at all). THis is continuation of genocide. A series of deadly attacks on Armenian old women without a proper investigation by the police and by the security authorities is part of this big picture. And big picture is denialism – continuation of genocide. Don’t ask me proof, evidence, papers proving it, I don’t have them. But I have mental capacity, sensitivity to observe, to discover the connections and to draw conclusions. One see what one wants to see. You don’t want to see. That’s the point.

  13. My granfather’s family perished in Bitlis in 1916, their lives ending brutally. Nothing left behind, not even a memory. I do not ever expect Ayse hanim to ever think of making a mention of such trivial issues in an article like this.

  14. Dear Ayse Gunaysu:
    Thank you for the Work you do for Humanity. May GOD give you the Wisdom and Energy to continue your Valuable Work! As for Me? Hear me out for the First time, I’m writing on this topic:I belong to both of the Worlds; the Old & the New!! I was born in LICE/Diyarbakir. Grew up with Kurdish Kids, Age of Ten moved to Diyarbakir, age of twelve brought to Istanbul/Sisli, Karagozyan yetimhanesi, at age of Forteen went to Surp Hac Tibrevank (Ermeni Ruhban okulu)in Uskudar/Istanbul. Graduaded in 1962 and came to America. Been here since…. Did not know anything about Armenian Genocide when I Arrived At U.S.A. Subsequently and very fast I learned: My father from Palu/Elazig had lost six brothers; All killed during GENOCIDE of 1915.In Palu, they had Farms, Homes, Animals,Vineyards. They were Big Family. All was confiscated, taken away from them, besides their lives, and they were left with nothing……. They were scared to Death, that’s why they never mentioned to us Kids, now that I relies it.My Dad and Mom were able to hide in a Kurdish Family Barn to Save their Lives!Life is so Precious!! Ayse,If you come across on any Information, Historical nature or Trip on Either; Lice/Diyarbakir or Palu/ Elazig, Please Keep me Posted. I’m very interested especially in my father’s Birth Place of Palu. Thank you in advance. Y.D.T.

    • Barev Yervant! Your story sounds a lot like my father’s. He was born south of Diyarbakir and spoke Kurdish growing up, our forefathers are also from Palu but they left before the genocide and went south. It always give me great joy to meet other Palu Armenians! I wish you all the best.

    • hello i am living on the bitlist.in the past, the armenians and the Kurds have experienced great genocide.and i think it is important that you and us are talking about the genocide

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