Journalist: I'll return to Turkey when it recognizes Genocide

November 29, 2013 - 16:05 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - An Armenian-born Turkish journalist slammed Ankara’s Genocide denial policy and lack of media freedom, Bianet reported.

“The country that hasn’t punished Hrant Dink's murderer, one that forbids visiting singer Aram Dikran’s tomb, one that refuses to recognize the Armenian Genocide is not fit to be lived in,” Cevat Sinet, who currently resides in Belgium, said.

He further criticized Turkey for stifling freedom of expression, with journalists getting arrested over failing to adhere to government-dictated information. According to Bianet, 66 journalists and 27 editors were imprisoned in Turkey in 2013, with the majority of them of Kurdish origin.

Sinet, who lived in Adana and wrote about the country’s national minorities since 1993, was forced to leave Turkey after releasing an article on the murder of Armenian-born soldier Sevag Balıkçı.

“While living in Turkey, I could never openly announce my nationality or faith. I could no longer live in a country devoid of justice,” the descendant of Genocide survivors said.

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The Armenian Genocide

The Armenian Genocide (1915-23) was the deliberate and systematic destruction of the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire during and just after World War I. It was characterized by massacres and deportations, involving forced marches under conditions designed to lead to the death of the deportees, with the total number of deaths reaching 1.5 million.

The majority of Armenian Diaspora communities were formed by the Genocide survivors.

Present-day Turkey denies the fact of the Armenian Genocide, justifying the atrocities as “deportation to secure Armenians”. Only a few Turkish intellectuals, including Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk and scholar Taner Akcam, speak openly about the necessity to recognize this crime against humanity.

The Armenian Genocide was recognized by Uruguay, Russia, France, Lithuania, Italy, 45 U.S. states, Greece, Cyprus, Lebanon, Argentina, Belgium, Austria, Wales, Switzerland, Canada, Poland, Venezuela, Chile, Bolivia, the Vatican, Luxembourg, Brazil, Germany, the Netherlands, Paraguay, Sweden, Venezuela, Slovakia, Syria, Vatican, as well as the European Parliament and the World Council of Churches.