ISTANBUL, Turkey (A.W.)—Turkish authorities have decided to demolish the Nişanyan House hotel complex owned by Turkish-Armenian intellectual, travel writer, entrepreneur, and researcher Sevan Nişanyan, according to a report by Turkey’s Gazete Vatan news outlet.
The report cites that 22 buildings, which were “illegally constructed in the environmental zone” in Şirince (Izmir province), are slated for demolition. Two other buildings, belonging to the Nesin Fund, established by Nişanyan and his friend Ali Nesin, are also set to be demolished.
The report notes that the original decision to demolish buildings was made in 2011; however, those plans were postponed due to the resistance of local residents.
In a recent interview with Armenian Weekly correspondent Gulisor Akkum, Sevan Nişanyan, who escaped prison and fled Turkey on July 14, said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s regime’s days are numbered and that he will eventually return to his home country.
“I am sad that I will be away from my village and my home for a period of time. But I do not believe this political insanity in Turkey will continue for too long. This regime is going to go, and we will return!” Nişanyan told Akkum.
Nişanyan was jailed on Dec. 2, 2014, for “construction infractions.” The charges that had him locked up stemmed from the renovations and additions to his hotels in Şirince, an old Greek village in Izmir that has become a tourist destination thanks to Nişanyan and his rustic hotel business.
“The bird has flown. Wish the same for 80 million left behind,” Nişanyan said in a Tweet on July 14 upon fleeing the country. He also changed his profile photo on Twitter in the evening hours of July 14 and replaced it with a photo of a flying bird.
Turkey doesn’t build, they destroy. Homes, families, civilizations. Turkey’s legacy is a very sad one.
AMEN……….you took the words right out of my mouth.
one day they will destroy themselves.