ARMENIAN NATIONAL SECURITY ARRESTS TURKISH STUDENT ON CHARGES OF SMUGGLING
Armenpress
YEREVAN, JUNE 17, ARMENPRESS: Armenian national security officers
arrested a Turkish student who they said was trying to smuggle out
of Armenia tens of books “of historical and cultural value” dating
back to 17 and 20 centuries.
A statement by the national security service said Ektan Turkilmaz,
33, a Turkish citizen from Istanbul and a student of a US-based Duke
University, in North Carolina, was arrested aboard a plane bound from
Yerevan to Istanbul. It said the books were about Armenian religious
rites, history and culture, Armenian traditional parties.
Turkyilmaz, who speaks Armenian, was the first and so far the only
Turkish scholar given access to Armenia~Rs state archives. He was
taught the language by an Armenian teacher in Istanbul, and arrived in
Armenia to work on his doctoral thesis that focuses on the creation
and activities of Turkish, Kurdish and Armenian parties during the
final decades of the Ottoman Empire. The national security service
said a criminal case was opened to investigate how the student was
able to take hold of these books.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress