Istanbul to Host Conference on Armenian Genocide

ISTANBUL — A Turkish civic group composed of journalists, lawyers and human rights activists is going to hold a conference devoted to the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.

The event, entitled “One Minute to 2015”, is set to take place on March 16 in Istanbul. The organizers invite all interested sides to join their initiative.

Mehmet Gojekli, the editor of the Turkish website Demokrat Haber, has called on the Turkish nation to look into its past ahead of the tragic anniversary.

The group says that the state has already started preparing for the Genocide centennial. “If they are preparing [for the anniversary], we too are preparing to speak the truth and confront our past,” Gokceli said, adding that the topic is too important to be trusted to the government.

He said it is the duty of any person residing in Turkey’s territory ask himself or herself, what happened in 1915?.

“One hundred years ago, half of Hakkari’s population was Assyrian, with half of those residing in Van being Armenians. Where did those people go and why? Is it of no interest to you?” he said, calling for efforts to prevent tragedies in future.

The conference will be held at Ismail Besikçi Foundation building in Beyoglu. The first session is titled “Women Face of 1915”, authors Gavrilof Kayus Caliman, Takuhi Tovmasian and Gülçiçek Günel are the speakers. This session will be moderated by journalist Müjgan Halis.

The second session of the Conference is titled, “1915 Genocide Law”. The moderator of the session is attorney Eren Keskin. In this session the speakers are attorney Erdal Dogan, attorney Ercan Kanar, Rita Ender and attorney Ramazan Demir.

The third session of the Conference is titles “Armenian Genocide and the Media”. In this session moderated by Cafer Solgun, the speakers are Ergun Babahan, Serdar Ranger, Pakrat Estukian of Agos, Sedat Yilmaz, Mehmet Göcekl.