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    Emil Lazarian
  • 7 years ago
    • Categories: 2019

Istanbul-Armenian writer Sevan Nisanyan grated Armenian citizenship

Panorama, Armenia
Society 12:06 17/05/2019 Armenia

Istanbul-Armenian writer, linguist, reporter and columnist Sevan Nisanyan, who escaped prison and fled Turkey in 2017, has been granted Armenian citizenship.

“I received my Armenian passport and citizenship papers today from Mr Fadey Charchoghliyan, Ambassador of the Republic of Armenia in Athens.

“I take pride in being a member of a peaceful and civilized nation that has withstood the tribulations of history by its labor alone.

“I thank Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and all others who helped me achieve this great honor,” he said in a post on Facebook. 

Nisanyan was jailed in Turkey in December 2014, for “construction infractions” and sentenced to over 11 years in prison. The charges that had him locked up stemmed from the renovations and additions to hishotels in Sirince, an old Greek village in Izmir that has become a tourist destination thanks to Nisanyan and his rustic hotel business. However, many intellectuals believed Nisanyan was jailed due to his book ‘The Wrong Republic’, in which he dared to criticize the official history of Turkey.

Emil Lazarian: “I should like to see any power of the world destroy this race, this small tribe of unimportant people, whose wars have all been fought and lost, whose structures have crumbled, literature is unread, music is unheard, and prayers are no more answered. Go ahead, destroy Armenia . See if you can do it. Send them into the desert without bread or water. Burn their homes and churches. Then see if they will not laugh, sing and pray again. For when two of them meet anywhere in the world, see if they will not create a New Armenia.” - WS