ARMENIANS STILL FEELING HEAT IN TURKEY, EXPERTS ARGUE

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
April 24 2014

April 24, 2014, Thursday/ 00:42:25/ TODAYSZAMAN .COM/ ISTANBUL

Turkish public figures have argued that Armenians as well as other
non-Muslim minorities are still feeling as an “outsider”, a heavy
burden for a country that seeks to become a democratic nation.

Author Roni Margulies, speaking during a panel discussion in “Facing
Genocide” Forum in Ä°stanbul on Wednesday, said 99 percent of Turkish
people, including the prime minister, is making minorities feel as
an outsider. Noting that he doesn’t feel himself as a citizen in
Turkey, Margulies said people in Turkey believe Armenians and Jews
are controlling the world.

Margulies said he “doesn’t care about an apology” and that “all of us
are Turks according to the Constitution.” He added that this state is
established as the state of Turks and that only 50-60,000 Armenians
left in the country today. “This state has never viewed minorities
as its own citizens,” Margulies said.

He stressed that he is living in Turkey as a foreigner for 50 years
and that his books are displayed in “foreign poets” sections in
bookstores. “I’m not a real citizen in Turkey. I’m a foreigner,”
Margulies said.

Lawyer Fethiye Cetin, who also spoke during the forum, urged the
Turkish government to recognize the “Armenian Genocide” perpetrated
at the hands of Ottoman soldiers during the World War I in 1915.

“We are all sick and victims. We will get better when we start
recognize and face this,” Cetin said, adding that minorities in Turkey
are described as “foreigners.”

Truth, Justice and Memory Center founder Ozgur Sevgi Göral said in
her speech that there is a political structure that puts “Turkishness”
ahead of other ethnicities. She said “what we need to do is to prove
it as a tangible crime while not making it extremely local.”

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress