Turkish MP taken aback by Postanjyan’s remark

A1Plus.am
07:50 pm | May 14, 2010 | Politics

PACE committee on culture, science and education held a meeting in
Istanbul on May 10-11, 2010. Present at the meeting were PACE
President Mevlüt Çavusoglu, Turkish Minister of Tourism and Culture
Ertugul Gunay, State Minister Mehmet Aydin, head of the Turkish
delegation to PACE Erol Aslan Cebeci and other officials.

The meeting was attended by Heritage Party MP, permanent member of the
commission Zaruhi Postanjyan.

According to a Heritage press release, the meeting focused on draft
resolutions, reports and recommendations, including a report on
endangered languages by Turkish parliamentarian Ertugul Komsuoglu.
In her speech, Mrs. Zaruhi Postanjyan underlined that the report
contained a number of drawbacks; in particular there was no mention
about the Western Armenian and Assyrian languages which are, in fact,
involved on the UN list of endangered languages.

"I reminded that the Armenian Genocide by the Ottoman Empire was the
reason that put the language on the verge of disappearance," says
Zaruhi Postanjyan.

She also noted that the structure should take drastic measures to make
its member states ratify the European Framework Convention for the
Protection of National Minorities and European Charter for Regional or
Minority Languages

The Turkish deputy’s reaction was fierce and the discussion was
postponed for further consideration.

Komsuoglu announced that the Armenian delegate was offending his
feelings and his Turkish identity when speaking about the Armenian
Genocide.