Sunday’s Zaman, Turkey
Jan 17 2010

Turkish-Armenian world champion happy to represent Turkey

Toros PilikoÄ?lu, a Turkish-Armenian who won the 100-meter gold medal
in the World High School Championships last December, said he was
proud to represent Turkey in the competition.

The 17-year-old PilikoÄ?lu also holds the title of the world’s
100-meter sprint champion, won at the sixth International Association
of Athletics Federations (IAAF) World Youth Championships, held in
Estonia on July 3, 2009. A student at the private Getronagan High
School in Ä°stanbul, PilikoÄ?lu says he is no foreigner to Turkey. `I am
from Turkey. My family loves Turkey. My grandfather grew up in Turkey,
and my father is also from Turkey. We love Turkey very much and are
proud of this. Despite the fact that people sometimes criticize us, we
always underline that although we are ethnic Armenians, we are
Turkish-Armenians,’ PilikoÄ?lu said.
PilikoÄ?lu is very interested in sports. He first got involved at the
age of 7, taking a liking to track and field. He said he wants to
further his studies in Turkey rather than abroad.

This young athlete visited Armenia when he was 14 to participate in an
olympiad, but believes living in Turkey is an advantage for him.
`Living in Turkey is good for my future. Many people support me both
morally and financially. AVV Technogym and Yüksel Construction are my
sponsors. The most important thing is that I have not encountered any
bad situations with Turks thus far,’ he said.

Hakan Günartan, PilikoÄ?lu’s coach, said the young athlete is highly
disciplined, faithful and a good person. `We believe PilikoÄ?lu will be
successful, like Süreyya Ayhan,’ Günartan noted, speaking of
PilikoÄ?lu’s good performance.

When asked about his good performance at championships, PilikoÄ?lu says
everyone should be determined to win, and to achieve this goal one
must be eager and determined.

17 January 2010, Sunday
ELÄ°F KAYA Ä°STANBUL

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress