CONFERENCE DEVOTED TO ARMENIAN-TURKISH RELATIONS

"Noravank" Foundation
30 October 2008

On October 28 in "Noravank" Foundation was held a conference on
"Armenian-Turkish relations" participated by guests and foundation
co-workers. The conference was organized on the occasion of Fethiye
Chetn’s republication of the book "Grandmother." The book was first
published in 2006 (translated by the "Noravank" Foundation expert,
senior lecturer of Yerevan State University’s Department of Turkology,
PhD Ruben Melkonyan). The conference was honored by the participation
of Fethiye Chetin and the brother of "Akos" newspaper’s chief editor
Hrant Dink – Yervand Dink.

The Foundation Director G.Harutyunyan briefly represented how the
idea of the book came true, than Ruben Melkonyan introduced the
honorable guest Fethiye Chatin. The latter one mentioned that she
was very surprised to find out that her grandmother, Hranush, was
an Armenian, which made her make a tour into the past and find the
world-spread relatives. In the end Fethiye Chetin, who is a lawyer
by profession and at the same time the lawyer of Hrant Dink’s family,
took the pen and wrote this exciting story.

She also mentioned about great changes in Turkey. According to her in
her country are discussed such problems which nobody deared to voice
in the past, there are also braked taboos, in particular – Armenian
ones. The author of the book thinks that hostility between Armenian
and Turkish nations is conditioned by their not knowing each other.

By the end of the meeting the conference participants asked a lot
of questions to the author of the book which witnesses about the
subject’s up-to-datedness and great interest to it.