XXI Century: Nothing Has Changed in Turkey
Pan Armenian Net
Jan. 27, 2004
852

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ `After Hrant Dink’s murder and funeral in Istanbul,
which was attended by hundred of thousands, many people in the world
began to speak about a change in Turkish as if it has become more
democratic and tolerant.

Such statements occurred also in Armenia,’ stated political scientist
Levon Melik-Shahnazaryan to the PanARMENIAN.Net journalist. However,
he thinks, we should recall the events, which took place a hundred
years ago. `In 1908 the Young Turks came into power in Ottoman
Empire. Just less than a month before it they were solemnly placing
flowers to the graves of hundred of thousands of Armenians who were
killed by sultanate Turkey. At those times much was talked about the
new XX century, about changing ethnic character of Turks,about
religion tolerance. But the same Young Turks with mass assistance of
population already in 1909 organized a massacre of 30 000 Armenians in
Aleppo.

The XX century has not changed anything, nothing has changed and the
XXI century. Today we see the same phenomenon which was in the past:
flowers and bannerfor the outside world and internal readiness to kill
in reality. National mentality is a quite conservative phenomenon,
which practically does not yield to time changes,’ stressed Levon
Melik-Shahnazaryan.