Armenpress News Agency , Armenia
October 31, 2017 Tuesday


Pressures on supporters of dissent and peace in Turkey become severe –
expert on Turkish studies



YEREVAN, OCTOBER 31, ARMENPRESS. Ruben Melkonyan, dean of the faculty
of Oriental Studies at the Yerevan State University, says the state
and public pressure against supporters of dissent and peace in Turkey
is becoming increasingly severe, reports Armenpress.

Presenting his report on regional diversity in the example of Turkey
during the international conference on ‘Realities and prospects of
regional peace’, Ruben Melkonyan said if the Ottoman period is
accepted among the professionals to be called as a mosaic society
where there were different peoples and cultures, after that the
adoption of extremist policy resulted in creation of monolithic
Turkey. “My report is about the formation of Turkey from mosaic to
monolithic where different nationalities and cultures are denied or
embezzled”, he said.

He said in case of Turkey there is a very little place for optimism
since the current xenophobic policy continues at the highest level.
“The Turkish president with different extremist dogmas does not
contribute to establishment of peace, he further deepens the dividing
lines, ethnic conflicts, discrimination which reached a high level in
Turkey”, Ruben Melkonyan said.

In these circumstances, according to him, the opportunities for
dialogue are small, but it is necessary to continue the works with the
Turkish public, scientific circles, the small circles of civil society
that today exist and can hold discussions and strengthen the idea of
peaceful co-existence among the wide circles of the public.

“The Turkish participants of the conference are representatives of
Turkish civil society who are well aware of the issue of the Armenian
Genocide and different aspects of the Armenian-Turkish relations, they
are among those figures who form broader public opinion in Turkey
based on objective realities”, Melkonyan said.

According to the expert in Turkish studies, this participation can be
considered as courage since it is a courageous step in terms of
dictatorial trends gradually deepening in Turkey.

Ruben Melkonyan said the regional peace cannot have religious and
sectarian dividing lines, quite the contrary, they need to serve for
establishment of peace.

The international conference on regional peace was held in the Mother
See of Holy Etchmiadzin on October 31 which has been organized by the
Armenian Round Table Foundation of the World Council of Churches. The
conference was attended by speakers from Armenia, Georgia, Russia,
Iran and Turkey.