TURKISH JOURNALIST PUBLISHES IN “MILLIET” NEWSPAPER HIS IMPRESSINS
FROM VISIT TO GENOCIDE MUSEUM IN YEREVAN
ISTANBUL, December 13 (Noyan Tapan). Turkish journalist John Dyuntar
continued the publication of his impressions from the visit to the
Genocide Museum-Institute in Yerevan and his conversation with
Director of the Museum Lavrenty Barseghian in the December 8 issue of
the “Milliet” newspaper.
John Dyuntar writes that that the work on preparation for the “90th
Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide” (quotation marks are his –
“NT”), which will be marked on April 24, 2005, is being carried out at
the Genocide Museum-Institute. 250,000 people visit the museum every
year, which is under repair now. Young historians work in the museum
at present. L. Barseghian noticed that 14 parliaments have recognized
the Genocide till now and the National Assembly of Turkey was the
first of them in 1918.
Lavrenty Barseghian regretted in connection with the fact that the
Turkish community is not adequately informed about the crimes of the
Young Turks, and for that reason the guilt for the crime falls on the
Turkish people. “What is the guilt of the Turkish people in the crimes
of the past? Why does today’s government take the Young Turks’ guilt
upon itself? Why doesn’t President of Turkey Sezer beg the Armenians’
pardon like as it had been done by Bismark in his time,” emphasized
the Director of the Museum.
At the end of the article John Dzyuntar described Tsitsernakaberd and
reported that the names of different Turkish cities and tows,
i.e. Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Adana, Kesaria, Kharberd, Malatia, Mush,
Van and others, where the blood of the Armenians was shed in 1915, are
in the stone steles.