ARMENIAN COMMUNITY SPLIT OVER BUSINESSMAN’S REMARKS
Hurriyet
April 1 2010
Turkey
Bedros Sirinoglu speaks to journalists after meeting with Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on March 26. AA photo
Angered by a Turkish-Armenian representative’s failure to emphasize
the group’s suffering in 1915 during a recent meeting with the prime
minister, community members have demanded "civilian" leadership within
the community through an online petition.
The intra-communal split stems from a March 26 meeting in Ankara
between Bedros Sirinoglu, president of the Yedikule Surp Pırgic
Armenian Hospital Foundation, and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
During their conversation, Sirinoglu, who is also a prominent
businessman, described the events of 1915 as "a fight between two
brothers," and said Armenians in Turkey have no problems whatsoever.
Furious at the remarks, some members of the Armenian
community have started an online petition campaign at
bizbaskabirturkiyedeyasiyoruz.blogspot.com, a domain name that means
"We are living in another Turkey." The petition had been signed by
378 individuals as the Hurriyet Daily News & Economic Review went to
press Thursday.
Speaking to the Daily News, Sirinoglu said he was deeply sorry
about the issue. "I do not deny what was experienced, but calling it
‘genocide’ does no good to anyone," he said.
On his being described as the representative of the Armenian community,
he said he "does not need any titles."
"The people are unfortunately unaware of one fact: Anybody who is the
president of the Yedikule Surp Pırgic Armenian Hospital Foundation
has been described as a community representative since Ottoman times
and has special protocol status in Ankara," he said. "It is not a
title exclusive to me. I am not glued to this chair either – anybody
who wants to become president can do so when my term ends."
Rakel Dink, the widow of assassinated Turkish-Armenian journalist
Hrant Dink, and other Dink family members are among those who have
signed the online petition. Signatories see the petition as a first
step on the path toward "civilianizing" the community.
Pakrad Oztukyan, editor at the weekly Agos, where Dink once worked,
is among the signatories. "This is the reaction of the Armenian
people, a denominational stance and a first step on the path toward
civilianization," he told the Daily News.
Oztukyan claimed Sirinoglu is the president of the foundation "only
because he is wealthy" and "makes donations to community foundations."
"He is … someone who has ‘bought’ the position," Oztukyan said.
"Sirinoglu cannot speak in the name of the people."
Other Turkish Armenians, however, have kept their distance from
the dispute. Arsen AÅ~_ık, a retired academic from Bogazici
University, said both sides are "making superficial criticisms"
without understanding each other. "Both sides have valid points,
but they also have wrong points," he said.
Erdogan’s outburst
The dispute, however, is not limited to the petition and is the
result of events that have occurred within the community over the
past five months.
In November 2009, prominent community members met with the prime
minister under the direction of the spiritual leader of the Armenian
Patriarchate of Turkey, Aram AteÅ~_yan, at Dolmabahce Palace in
Istanbul.
Sirinoglu was among those who attended the meeting, which apparently
laid the foundation for Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s outburst
against undocumented Armenians during a BBC interview on March 16,
in which said there were "170,000 Armenians in Turkey," and threatened
to expel the undocumented ones, which he said totaled 100,000.
"This figure that the prime minister pronounced was the result of the
meddling of a friend of ours at the November meeting," Sirinoglu said.
"Our friend said there were 100,000 undocumented Armenians from Armenia
in Turkey and 70,000 Turkish Armenians. Yet, I was held responsible
for that remark."
Although there is no exact figure, the number of undocumented Armenian
workers in Turkey is no more than 14,000, according to recent research.
The number was not discussed during the Ankara meeting, Sirinoglu said.
"We had just asked for an appointment as a foundation. We have serious
[legal] issues about the properties of the foundation and its income.
We have conveyed our complaints on those matters. The media assumed
we were in Ankara because of the prime minister’s remarks, but that
is not the truth," he said.
"My grandfather was a priest in Bahcecik in Ä°zmit. He was murdered in
1915. His throat was slit because he would not cut his beard. Traces of
half my family are unknown. I do not deny what has been experienced. I
have told my story to the prime minister as well," Sirinoglu said.
"What has been experienced between Turks and Armenians was a fight
among brothers; a scenario prepared by the West. I could have described
what happened as genocide, but that would do no one any good," he said.
Sirinoglu also told the Daily News that the Armenian community is
experiencing a chaotic period due to of the illness of Patriarch
Mesrop II.
"Everybody wants to become prominent and be recognized by the masses,"
he said. "There are those who are even using the illness of Mesrop
II to their own advantage. The patriarchy elections were interrupted
because of that. [The community is waiting for] the approval from
the Patriarchy and [the Ministry of the] Interior for an election
date. If Istanbul Armenians continue to play tricks, they will endure
great harm."