Turks won’t dance tango with Armenians without the third side (video)
It is a bloody shirt of Talaat Pasha. It is preserved by the state at Istanbul Martial Arts Museum. Blood on the shirt is the first obvious connection of modern Turkey with Armenian Genocide in 1915. The second connection is the slab in front of “Agos” editorial, which only reminds that Hrant Dink was killed there: but there is no word about who killed him and why. In Turkey they already speak about Armenian Genocide without additional tension, though they don’t think that the state will recognize it. “Football” diplomacy facilitated what Turks must say on 100th anniversary of Genocide. “2015 is a year of penalty kick for Armenians and Turks are waiting to catch the ball of Armenians,”- says CNNturk News Editor Ferhat Boratav. He is on serious editorial position at CNNturk TV company. He wants Armenians to understand that it is impossible to speak about recognition of Genocide without examining the history textbooks. And if Armenians want neighborly relations with Turkey without preconditions, here we also must reckon with tango, “I call it “three to tango”, we won’t dance alone with Armenia, Azerbaijan will also be with us. Whereas Armenia wants to dance only with Turkey.” Mr. Boratav admits that there was something between Armenians and Turks, he says that Turks know what happened, but he confesses that those events have been replaced by fake memories for many Turks. “Now 70 percent of Turks living in cities are very far from 1915 heritage. Their memory is almost completely lost,”- he says. Haberturk news editor learnt about Armenian issue after spending 6 months in prison with an Armenian clergyman, who was accused of cooperation with ASALA, but in reality he was innocent and he didn’t speak about Armenian issue. Rusen Cakir thinks that Armenian issue was enlivened in Turkey after the terrorist acts of ASALA, “Our attitude to Armenian issue was negative after the acts of ASALA. But I don’t think that today there is racism against Armenians in Turkey.” Rusen Cakir thinks that today for the official Turkey the issue of Genocide isn’t the most important one among the problems with Armenians. The most important is Armenian-Azerbaijani relations. “But even if Armenians and Azerbaijanis find a solution to Karabakh issue, I don’t think that Armenian-Turkish border will be immediately opened and that the issue of Genocide will hinder further relations,”- stressed Cakir. Turkish journalist thinks that the situation today is historical, at first they related to Armenian issue through terrorist acts of ASALA, then through international recognition of Genocide, and today through “football” diplomacy, and Armenians come to Turkey for holidays, “Here no one persecutes Armenians, we hear complaints about different nations in many countries, but there is no complaint about Armenians from Turks.”
