Turks at Tsitsernakaberd Memorial
24.04.2010 18:03

Siranush Muradyan
`Radiolur’

Early in the morning a gray-haired man with a pipe was standing long
near the Eternal Fire at Tsitsernakaberd Memorial with his head bowed.
He laid carnations, tuned back and started speaking in Turkish with
Turkish journalists.

He said there was no doubt that what happened in 1915 was genocide,
and the fact should be acknowledged not only by Turkey, but also the
whole world. `I’m a writer,’ the old man said.

Asked whether he would condemn the Armenian Genocide if he lived in
Turkey, not Germany, he said `yes,’ adding he would not speak to the
Public Radio. `After all, I’m a Turk,’ he said smiling.

Political analyst of the Haberturk Asli Sozbiges agreed to tell his
opinion of a journalist. Speaking about Armenian-Turkish relations,
the Turkish journalist said political relations were needed for Turkey
and Armenia to understand each other better. `Normalization will take
time, but the most important is that the process has started,’ he
said, adding that having closed borders in the 21st century was
unacceptable.

Asked whether the Turkish people want to establish relations with
Armenia, Asli Sozbiges said: `Yes, definitely. We don’t take Armenians
as our enemies. The problems exist only on the diplomatic level,’ he
noted.