Turks in Istanbul commemorate 1915 killings of Armenians

armradio.am
24.04.2010 18:10

Human rights activists and artists in Istanbul commemorated the
1915-17 killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks for the first time
Saturday, breaking with a near century-old Turkish taboo, the Hurriyet
Daily News reports.

The Istanbul branch of the Human Rights Association, or Ä°HD, organized
a rally attended by about 100 people on the steps of the HaydarpaÅ?a
train station from where the first convoy of 220 deported Armenians
left on April 24, 1915.

Under the slogan "Never Again" and the watchful eye of the police,
demonstrators carried black and white photos of some of the deportees,
most of whom never returned.

Turkish intellectuals and artists signed a petition calling on "those
who feel the great pain" to show their sorrow.

Avoiding an open confrontation over the term genocide ‘which the
Turkish government fiercely rejects ‘ the petition speaks of the
"Great Catastrophe" of the 1915-17 massacres.