New magazine to cover Turkey’s national minorities’ issues

PanARMENIAN.Net - Turkey’s minorities should try harder to break out of their shell, according to the editor-in-chief of a new monthly magazine that aims to lend a collective voice to Turkey’s Armenian, Greek, Bulgarian and Syriac minorities.

“Paros” (lighthouse in Armenian) will be published in Turkish to reach a broader audience.

“Turkey had no magazines aiming to shed light on minority communities. At the moment, we are unique in this field. As Turkey is changing, so the minorities’ world has begun to acquire new vigor. I believe the timing for Paros’ launch is quite accurate, and precisely for this reason, because Turkish society has grown more aware,” Mayda Saris told Hürriyet Daily News.

“Agos magazine, an Armenian weekly whose editor-in-chief Hrant Dink was assassinated in 2007, had managed to attract substantial interest because it was published in Turkish,” he said.

“Care needs to be taken to prevent Armenian, Greek, Syriac, Bulgarian and all other languages from becoming obsolete, for languages are our wealth. However, it is also a truism that our youngsters prefer to read in Turkish,” Saris added.

The magazine will primarily cover social, cultural, educational, economic and artistic subjects, according to Saris, who also added that young writers showed considerable interest in the publication. A publicity issue of Paros magazine has already been published with its initial staff of 18.