AFTER HRANT DINK: THE NEWSPAPER AT THE CENTRE OF THE STORY
By Alexander Christie-Miller for Southeast European Times in Istanbul
Southeast European Times
Dec 7 2010
The editor-in-chief of an increasingly influential Armenian weekly
speaks with SETimes about his predecessor’s assassination and its
implications for broader Turkey.
As soon as you enter the Agos premises in Istanbul’s upscale suburb
of Osmanbey, you immediately realise it’s no ordinary newspaper.
Security cameras pan the street entrance and stairwell, and before
entering the old, narrow, wood-floored office, you first pass through
a security area made of steel and bulletproof glass.
Once inside, you are immediately confronted with a huge portrait photo,
framed with fairy lights, of the man whose death necessitated these
security measures: the paper’s founder Hrant Dink.
Dink was shot dead outside the offices in 2007 in an assassination
allegedly linked to elements within Turkey’s “Deep State”. He had
turned the newspaper from a mouth piece for Turkey’s small Armenian
community, using it to address some of the most sensitive issues
surrounding modern Turkey’s cultural and ethnic identity. Many people
believe he paid for this with his life.
His latest successor as editor-in-chief of the weekly newspaper,
Rober Koptas, who took over from Etyen Mahcupyen in June, spoke to
SETimes about Agos, Dink’s legacy, and the challenges facing Turkey’s
Armenian community.
SETimes: How has Agos changed since its foundation? Is it just a
newspaper for the Armenian community in Turkey, or has it become
something more than that?
Rober Koptas: Thanks to the efforts of Hrant Dink, Agos became more
influential paper than was expected when it was founded. As you said,
in the beginning it was only a community paper published in Turkish
and Armenian and it was regarded as a platform to express the problems
of the Armenian community of Turkey — of Istanbul mostly.
But during time, Agos became a platform for not only Armenians, but
also some other ethnic or religious groups of Turkey, or some opposing
minority or political groups that suffered from discrimination or
nationalism. So now we have some Armenian columnists, some non-Armenian
writers. We have Armenian readers and non-Armenian readers, its equal
their number so we can say that Agos has crossed the borders of the
Armenian community and has become a paper of the whole of Turkey. Agos
is small in numbers but big in its effect.
SETimes: What is your plan for the paper as editor-in-chief?
Koptas: The main motives of Agos are not going to be changed: the
democratisation of the country, human rights issues, the rights of
religious groups, mostly Armenian and some others. We’re going to
try to be better journalists and work harder. Agos in its essence has
an amateur spirit, which is very important for us but we’re going to
blend this amateurship with a professional working style.
SETimes: What are the benefits of that amateur spirit?
Koptas: Of course it becomes a more lively paper whose borders are
not so defined; every problem of the people can be our topic. In a
professional paper it’s not easy to contribute as a reader but Agos
is more open to that.
The other thing is that our paper, like every person in Turkey,
has a problem with Turkish nationalism. We can express ourselves in
a more human way than some other professional papers because we’re
suffering from that attitude that discriminates Armenians against
Turks or Kurds against Turks.
SETimes: One of your predecessors as editor was Hrant Dink, who was
murdered outside these offices. Why was he killed?
Koptas: Because he was very dangerous in the eyes of Turkish
ultranationalists. He was always crossing the border: he was Armenian
but not an “acceptable” Armenian as they defined, because the ordinary
Armenian doesn’t have the right to speak, but he was speaking very
loudly. He was not an ordinary journalist: he was touching every
critical issue of Turkey.
He became a bridge between these ethnic groups — Kurds, Turks,
Armenians — and he was a kind of model of a future Turkish citizen,
I think, because he had strong ties with his culture and identity,
but he also tried to understand Turks and Islam. Because of that he
was a dangerous man and they knew that killing him could destroy a
lot of positive things.
SETimes: Do you think they were right in thinking that? What was the
effect of his death?
Koptas: It created a huge impact on Turkish society. It became a
milestone. The killers did not expect that thousands of people would
march crying, ‘We are all Hrant, we are all Armenian’. This was the
first time in Turkish history that people came together to cry for
an Armenian.
Up until now, the Turkish state regards Armenians as second-class
citizens. They have the right to take the property of our institutions,
our foundations, and our churches.
The emergence of these ideas created space for discussion about
history, about today, and about the future. Hrant Dink’s assassination
helped Turkish society because it created a space for us to discuss
more freely Turkish identity, Armenians, the Kurdish issue.
SETimes: I’d like to ask a bit more about the problems Armenians have
with Turkish nationalism. I understand that your given name is Rober,
but your legal name is Murat. Could you say why that is?
Koptas: Being an Armenian can sometimes be dangerous in Turkish
society, and my father had a fear that when I went to military service,
my Armenian name could be a problem for me. Because of that fear
he decided to record me as Murat, a Turkish name. This fear still
continues for most Armenians; they use some other names when they’re
in markets, when they’re making business. They’re hiding their own
names and using Turkish names.
Up until now, the Turkish state has regarded Armenians as second-class
citizens. They have the right to have the property of our institutions,
our foundations, and our churches.
This concept of second-class citizenship has been reflected in
society because when the people see that Armenians aren’t regarded
as equal citizens they create an image of Armenians as foreigners so
they feel they have the right to discriminate against them. Being an
Armenian can become an image of an enemy, a hostile people. So this
discrimination on an official level has an effect on the society level.
SETimes: Do you think these kinds of problems are getting better? How
has it changed in the past few years?
Koptas: Relatively speaking, it’s going better because 20 years ago it
was impossible to speak about these issues and Turkish intellectuals
were not aware of these problems. Only Armenians were defending their
rights and Kurds were defending their own rights, but now it has become
a mixture: now there’s a group of intellectuals [of all ethnicities]
opposing this kind of discrimination.
A young generation is growing up with these ideas so people can see
that nationalism is not as good as the state has told people.
SETimes: You recently attended the service at the Surp Khach church
on Akdamar (Akhtamar) Island, the first time the church had been open
in 95 years. What are your reflections on that service?
Koptas: Before the ceremony my feelings were very mixed. It was
a historical moment for us because 95 years on, there would be a
religious ceremony in Akhtamar, which is a symbol of Armenian culture
and Armenian history in these lands.
But on the other hand we know the Turkish state used this renovation
and ceremony as a tool of propaganda. It was very clear. But I believe
that we can change this propaganda in a positive way by showing to
the world and Turkey that there were Armenians in these lands, they
had culture here, they had religious foundations, they had churches,
schools etc, and if we can use it as a platform to show people that
this is a symbol of Armenian losses, only by acknowledging these
losses and facing this history we can build a peaceful future.
This content was commissioned for SETimes.com.
From: A. Papazian
http://www.setimes.com/cocoon/setimes/xhtml/en_GB/features/setimes/articles/2010/12/06/reportage-01