ATMOSPHERE OF FEAR AT PRESENT STRAINED IN TURKEY, ARMENIAN TURKOLOGISTS SAY

Noyan Tapan
May 22 2007

YEREVAN, MAY 22, NOYAN TAPAN. The atmosphere of fear among Armenians
became more strained in Turkey after Agos newspaper editor-in-chief
Hrant Dink’s murder. Turkologist Anush Hovhannisian expressed such
an opinion at the May 22 discussion. In her words, the demonstrations
followed H. Dink’s murder which were held under the slogan "We all are
Armenians, we all are Dink" and the authors of which the democratic
forces of Turkey were, may not be even compared with the Kemal crowded
demonstrations taken place in two weeks after it. The latters, in
A. Hovhannisian’s words, protested why such a public wave arose on the
occasion of an Armenian journalist’s murder, whereas, in their opinion,
Turk diplomates’ murders remained unresponded during the history.

In the opinion of another Turkologist, Artak Shakarian, "the more
Turkey goes towards Europe" the more beneficial development of events
will be for Armenia. But, as A. Shakarian mentioned, H. Dink’s death
slowed down that country’s entering the European family and had a
negative influence on the Armenian-Turkish relations. In his opinion,
the situation became much more difficult for the Armenians of Turkey:
threatening letters are periodically got at Armenian schools, Armenian
article writers present themselves in mass media with pseudanyms.