ARMENIAN COMMUNITY HAS BEEN ANXIOUS SINCE DAY OF HRANT DINK’S MURDER,
ROBERT HATTECHIAN SAYS
YEREVAN, JULY 5, NOYAN TAPAN. "The Armenian-Turkish relations had been
improved in the past 10-15 years, there was a sympathy for the
Armenians living in Constantinople, and writers and historians speaking
about the Armenian Genocide more boldly had appeared in the Turkish
media. It seemed to us that hatred for us had disappeared, but after
Hrant Dink’s murder such phenomena emerged, which reminded us that the
things are not this way at all," writer, publicist Robert Hattechian,
the editor-in-chief of the Marmara daily of Istanbul, stated in his
interview to Noyan Tapan.
In his words, thousands of people’s taking to the streets and saying
"We are Dinks, we are Armenians" after Hrant Dink’s murder (at that,
the number of Armenians was small among these people) did much harm to
the Armenian community. R. Hattechian said that Armenian schools and
churches are often threatened after that. "In the schools they have an
atmosphere of fear, and iron doors and video cameras have been placed
in front of editorial offices, as we are periodically warned that
something may happen at any moment. Today the Armenian community is
anxious, and everybody wishes to return to the days of past," R.
Hattechian said.
Touching upon the reopening of the repaired Surb Khach church of
Akhtamar, R. Hattechian said that the opening of the church as a museum
was a positive decision. "Of course, I would like it to be opened as a
church, but if it were this way, then only Armenians of Turkey would
visit it once a year, but now the whole world is interested in Surb
Khach church," the editor-in-chief of the Marmara daily said. In his
words, if more clergymen, scientists and intellectuals took part in the
church’s reopening, it would be a larger Armenian agitation.
Speaking about the opening of the Armenian-Turkish border, R.
Hattechian said that Turks, in particular, Turks living in Kars and
Erzrum near Armenia, are for opening the border as soon as possible.
However, in the words of Marmara’s editor-in-chief, the border will not
be opened easily, as the Turkish authorities still have to get over
some obstacles, the first of which is the issue of the Genocide. "Of
course, we will wait very long, but the opening of the border is not
only for us, but for the Turkish public opinion," R. Hattechian said.