THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT HOSTS ARMENIAN and KURDISH CONFERENCES
Ararat News –Publishing (ANP) – Roni Alasor-Fiona Lorin, 10/11/2008 / Brussels - The Armenian heritage in Turkey and the Dersim Genocide of the Kurds by the Turkish Government will be discussed on Thursday, 13th November, in the European Parliament in Brussels. The two events are hosted by the European parliamentarians Bernard Lehideux (ALDE, France) and Feleknas Uca (GUE/NGL, Germany).
ARMENIAN HERITAGE IN TURKEY
The morning conference “A Journey of Cultural Rediscovery: Armenian Heritage in Turkey” is organised by the European office of the Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU) with the participation of the speakers Michael Leigh (Director General of the European Commission’s General Directorate for Enlargement), Fethiye Cetin (lawyer of Hrant Dink and author of the famous book My Grandmother), Osman Köker (historian and author of the book Armenians in Turkey 100 Years Ago), Patrick Donabedian (art historian at the Université de Aix-en-Provence, France), Ara Sarafian (UK) is a historian specializing in the late Ottoman Empire and modern Turkey.
GENOCIDE OF DERSIM
The second conference in European Parliament in same day is about genocide of Dersim, a Kurdish city in Turkish part of Kurdistan. Turkey have changed the name of Dersim to Tunceli after a havy massacre in 1938 where the Turkish government has massacred thousands of people, those who survived were banished, Dersim was depopulated. The cause of these merciless acts was being Kurdish, Alevi and Kizilbash. Although 70 years have passed, Turkey is not willing to acknowledge this Genocide like many other Kurdish Genocides. Those responsible for the deaths of thousands of people have never been tried nor have they been brought out into light. The broken families could never discover their past. Thousands of people still haven’t received news from their families and close friends. The whereabouts of the Kurdish children taken by the Turkish Government at the time are unknown. Many other world countries who have had a similar experiences and committed genocide against its people have acknowledged the injustice and sorrow they have caused and have apologised. However Turkey is continuing to resist and use “it does not exist” strategy with the Kurdish Genocide just as they have with the Armenian Genocide."
The speakers of the conference is ; Haydar Işik, President of the Association of Reconstruction of DERSİM, Writer ; Ayşe Hür, Writer and Columnist, Istanbul ; Hilda Tchoboian, President of the European Armenian Federation for Justice and Democracy, Belgium ; Şerafettin Halis, MP for Tunceli, Turkey ; Prof. Dr. Ronald Mönch, University of Bremen, Germany ; Hans Branscheidt, EU Turkey Civic Commission : Aysel Tuğluk, MP for Diyarbakir, Turkey.
(Sources ; Press releases)
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