Turkish native applies to court for restoration of his real Armenian
second name
2008-05-30 14:38:00
ArmInfo. A local musician in the eastern province of Malatya applied to
court Wednesday to get a name change, declaring that he was really an
Armenian, Turkish Daily News reports.
Kazнm Akнncн, who lives with his mother and makes a living selling his
albums, said his family hid the fact that they were Armenian
Christians, but had decided to stop hiding his true identity after
Turkish journalist of Armenian decent Hrant Dink was killed early last
year.
He applied to a Malatya court to change his name to Serkis Nerseyan and
went to the local population registry to change the religion section of
his identity card from Muslim to Christian.
Speaking to the Doаan news agency, he said, "I live in Malatya and
neither I nor the society has any problem with me being an Armenian.
However, my family hid this fact for years due to a baseless fear."
He said his sadness over Dink’ murder had made him decide to declare
his identity. "I make a living by selling my albums. I am well liked by
those around me. They like me not because I am ‘Kazнm’ or ‘Serkis.’ I
am liked because of my personality. There is no reason for fear or
hiding."
Dink was shot and killed in front of the office of the weekly Armenian
newspaper Agos in January 2007 by an ultra-nationalist teenager. Dink
was also found guilty of insulting Turkishness by a court.
Malatya made the headlines in April last year when five
ultra-nationalists raided the offices of a publishing house, murdering
two Turkish Christian converts and a German national, all of whom were
working as Christian missionaries.