TURKISH YOUNG PEOPLE PROTEST AGAINST BURNING OF TURKISH FLAG
news.am
April 28 2010
Armenia
A group of nationalist young people in Turkey expressed their protest
against the burning of the Turkish national flag in Yerevan. They
called for solidarity and .laid flowers at the Armenian cemetery
Å~^iÅ~_li in Istanbul.
Members of the Turkish National Student Union (Milli Turk Talebe
Birligi (MTTB)) that gathered at the cemetery carried a banner with
the slogan "Come to your senses, O loyal nation" (Millet-i Sadıka
kendine gel) written in Ottoman Turkish. Omer Onder Haberdar, who
spoke at the meeting, stated that the phrase "loyal nation" applied
exclusively to Armenian in the Ottoman Empire. "True, numerous
tragedies occurred, and we grieve for the victims on both sides. On
the Day in commemoration of the 1915 events in Yerevan nationalists
burned our flag and pictures of our President and Prime Minister. The
problem is not to be resolved in this way," he said.
MTTB Secretary Emrah Atila advised Turkish young people to unite. "The
problem is not to be resolved by burning flags, but by intelligent
people. The two peoples have been living together for hundreds of
years, and they will in the future," he said.