Rober Koptas: being an Armenian can sometimes be dangerous in Turkish society

December 8, 2010 - 20:24 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - Hrant Dink’s latest successor as editor-in-chief of weekly newspaper, Rober Koptas, who took over from Etyen Mahcupyen in June, spoke to Southeast European Times about Agos, Dink's legacy, and the challenges facing Turkey's Armenian community.

“Thanks to the efforts of Hrant Dink, Agos became more influential paper than was expected when it was founded. 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, their number is equal 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.”

“The main motives of Agos are not going to be changed: the democratization 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.

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.”

Speaking about the murder of Hrant Dink, Koptas stated, “Dink was killed 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.”

“Dink’s death 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.”

Dwelling about the problems Armenians have with Turkish nationalism, Agos editor-in-chief said, “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.”