Special for the Armenian Weekly
The attack on the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo last month prompted millions of French citizens and people from around the world to celebrate the slain journalists as martyrs of freedom of speech. We have seen similar waves of reactions in Turkey, Armenia, and the Armenian Diaspora every January since 2007, when editor/journalist Hrant Dink was assassinated in daylight on his newspaper’s doorstep in central Istanbul by Turkish nationalists.
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Long live nissanyan there should be a fund established to raise money to hire strong lawers likeAmal Clooney and pay for judicial expenses to free sinanyan
A gross distortion of facts, particularly the killing of the soldier, which was a disagreement between two soldiers. The other soldier was a Kurd. Another minority rrace, unjustly treated in Turkey according to you. And certainly not a defender of the Turkish flag.
This is what you get when you waste your time trying to do something positive for a nation which has only brought pain for us. It might sound harsh but he is paying for being Armenian in a country that does not want Armenians, even the ones which do something positive for it! He could have left that country for Armenia or some other place and enjoyed his life.
“Sirince, a former Greek village in the Aegean hills of western Turkey”, I wonder if the Armenian Weekly uses a similar style when mentioning US cities, e.g., a former Navajo city, a former Apache city etc. Greeks are an integral part of Western Anatolia no question about that but I don’t see how bringing up the fact that the city of Sirince used to be a Greek city adds anything to your story. If anything, it distracts your readers from your main points, and makes your Turkish readers like myself question whether the Armenian weekly has issues with the current Turkish presence in Western Anatolia.
{“ I wonder if the Armenian Weekly uses a similar style when mentioning US cities, e.g., a former Navajo city, a former Apache city etc.”}
Wonder no more, Uyguroglu.
Lots and lots of place names in US are from their Native American origins. Unlike invadonomad Turks, Americans do not attempt to erase any traces of indigenous peoples of North America.
You can review the list below in your spare time.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_place_names_in_the_United_States_of_Native_American_origin
{“ Turkish readers like myself question whether the Armenian weekly has issues with the current Turkish presence in Western Anatolia”}
I can’t speak for AW, but I personally have lots of issues with Turks from East and Central Asia living on the lands of others, after exterminating them, forcibly Islamizing and Turkifying them, attempting to erase all traces of indigenous peoples of Asia Minor, by changing place names and stealing everything that belonged and belongs to those indigenous peoples: lands, properties, gold, jewelry, children, genes, art, cuisine, song, dance,…everything.
We need to keep reminding Uyguroglu Turks that they are uninvited foreigners on those lands.
Yeah, I have lots of issues with Turks committing Genocide of Armenians, Assyrians, and Pontic Greeks – and denying it.
btw: do you also wonder why the leaders of your country have been engaged in a worldwide campaign to not only deny the Armenian Genocide for a 100 years, but also actively interfere with its acceptance by other countries and entities ?
I don’t wonder why the leaders of Turkey are engaged in genocide denial campaigns. I already know the answer to that: They are hateful people like you are.
You think you have the authority to tell people whether they belong to the land that they were born in. I am sorry that my very existence in my homeland is a problem for you. Here is to hoping that you and people who think similar to you will never get a chance to act upon your unfounded hateful ideas.
ps. I had to partake in many dumb internet conversations before but this brought it to a whole new level when you accused me of stealing genes. I do not know how that is even possible but please don’t bother to explain.
Great article !!!!
Hello. Great article !
As a Turkish person, I am so saddened by the continual denial in Turkey of the genocide. I am also saddened by the increasing overall oppression in recent years in Turkey. Turkey is gradually turning into a semi-dictatorial, police state; with Islamisation increasing its presence in many sectors of state and society.
The future (at least the near future) of Turkey doesn’t look good, especially if AKP wins the general elections again this June.
(T // February 15, 2015 at 1:56 am //)
In the entire article discussing a very serious subject, the persecution by Turks of a man because he is Armenian (Sevan Nisanyan), and the murder by Turks of a man because he was Armenian (Hrant Dink), you decided to comment on one sentence, this: {“Nisanyan is also famous for the “Nisanyan Houses.” After settling in Sirince, a former Greek village in the Aegean hills of western Turkey,..”}.
You object to it, because it says “former Greek village”.
And the reason you object to it is because you don’t want people to know that it was in fact a Greek village, before Turks wiped out the former inhabitants, Greeks.
Don’t blame your leaders: you yourself is engaged in erasing any traces of the indigenous inhabitants: SOP for invadonomad denialist Turks.
The fact that you would pose a ‘highly intelligent’ question to AW about Navajo and Apache clearly shows who in this internet conversation is dumb.
Since you have access to the web, it would be just as easy for you to lookup American place names as it was for me.
I understand you being a Turk born in Turkey are a challenged product of the Turkish MisEducation Establishment.
But, like I said: if I can access the web, so can you.
{“ a whole new level when you accused me of stealing genes.”}
Where in my post did I accuse you, ‘T’, personally, of stealing genes ?
Go back and read it again.
I addressed my comments to:
“Uyguroglu”.
“invadonomad Turks”
“lots of issues with Turks living on the lands of others… stealing…genes…” (Turks, as in plural)
If you took that last sentence personally, then maybe you are feeling guilty about something, Turk ?
{“ I do not know how that is even possible but please don’t bother to explain.”}
It’s no bother: I will gladly explain. We are here to help.
The way you (plural) steal genes is you murder the parents of the little Armenian girl, abduct her, ‘marry her’ (rape a child), and forcibly attach the nomadic Uyguroglar genes to the unwilling host, who happens to have sedentary, civilized Armenian genes going back at least 5,000 years.
The way you (plural) steal genes is you abduct all the beautiful young Armenian women, rape them, and forcibly attach your (plural) nomadic Uyguroglar genes to the unwilling host, who happens to have sedentary, civilized Armenian genes going back at least 5,000 years.
That’s how you steal the genes of someone who does not want to willingly share it with you (plural), Uyguroglar Turks (plural).
This concludes our correspondence which was very illuminating. I wish I had the time to learn more about civilized sedentary Armenian genes and nomadic Uygur genes from you. (Uygurs were sedentary peoples btw but that’s not my point here)
I guess the take-away message here for Turks reading this post is that:
It is frustrating to not be able to find support to fight against the injustice at home.
It is even more frustrating to deal with the borderline eugenics fascist arguments from the diaspora.
Still, without getting discouraged, we need to work toward a more just society at home.
Freedom to Sevan Nisanyan! Justice for Hrant!
And, by the way, T. The phrase “Greeks are an integral part of Western Anatolia” is a typically and narrowly Turkish, i.e. toponymically- and historically distortive expression. When there was the Christian Byzantine Empire, there were no Turkic tribes in sight. Therefore, to say that Greeks were “an integral part” of their own state formation is a misnomer, at best. Absurd might be a more appropriate adjective. Greeks were a forming and not an “integral” part of the lands, which Turks came to rename, in their best distortionist traditions, as “Western Anatolia”. Just like they now call the six Armenian provinces “Eastern Anatolia”. You know why you’re doing this, right? Because you KNOW that the lands were never originally yours…
Wrong, T. Uyghurs were a nomadic tribe from the Altai Mountains in Mongolia competing with rivals in Central Asia, Sino-Tibetan empires to the east, and Indo-European powers from the west. After the collapse of the Uyghur Khaganate in the 9th century AD, Uyghurs settled from Mongolia to the Tarim Basin located in northwest China’s Xinjiang region. Just like the Turks–originally nomadic Seljuks and Mongols–settled in Asia Minor, Armenia, and Cappadocia in the 11th century AD, the lands that never historically belonged to them. Avery is correct in noticing that in the article discussing the persecution by Turks of a man because he is Armenian, you only commented on a sentence that retrieves shameful history of the Turks, that is, wiping out sedentary inhabitants and resettling on their lands. It is this statement of truth that made you uncomfortable. “Borderline eugenics fascist arguments” have nothing to do with stating the historical truth, that is, Turks are not indigenous in the lands they currently live on. Whatever you do and however you rename the toponyms and distort the history, facts are a stubborn thing.
Not that surprising that simple facts are mingled once more here, turned upside down one more time by the various commenters als. Birader Sevan is NOT in jail because he is Armenian. He is NOT in jail because he is an agitator. He is NOT in jail because of what he thinks, says and writes. He is in jail simply because he wantonly broke the law and built where he was not allowed in this case. He knew it was illegal, he was warned, but still went on. Of course, it is ironic if you have ever saw what a mess zonings are in Turkish cities. I admire his intellect, what he has done for the country and his bravery, but being a professional agitator does have consequences. Anywhere.