SINGER ARAM TIGRAN NOT TO BE BURIED IN TURKEY

Asbarez
ran-not-to-be-buried-in-turkey/
Aug 12, 2009

ISTANBUL -Aram Tigran, the Armenian singer who is well-known by Kurds
and Turks and who died in Athens last week, had wished to be buried
in the southeastern Anatolian province of Diyarbakir, which he said
he loved so much.

Interior Minister Besir Atalay told Today’s Zaman on Tuesday that
Tigran’s family had applied to the Turkish Foreign Ministry in order
to be able to bury Tigran’s body in Diyarbakir.

However, due to related legal arrangements, the Foreign Ministry had
to refuse this demand, Atalay added.

Meanwhile, the Cihan news agency reported that a special Cabinet
decision was required for the burial of foreign people in Turkey.

Tigran’s family was originally from the southeastern province of
Batman. To escape the Genocide, they left Turkey and setteled in
Qamishli, Syria where Tigran was born in 1934.

Residents of Diyarbakir had already prepared for the planned funeral
of Tigran with preparations at the city’s Surp Giragos Armenian Church.

In Diyarbakir, Selahattin Demirtas, deputy chair of the parliamentary
group of the Democratic Society Party (DTP), on Tuesday voiced
disappointment over the refusal of Tigran’s family’s request.

"We have been exerting efforts in order to carry out the last request
of a person. The government should also display a flexible and
constructive manner for carrying out such a humanitarian request,"
Demirtas said, noting that his party had held contacts with both
the Interior Ministry and the Culture Ministry. "We haven’t lost our
expectations and hopes yet," he added.