Armenian Genocide Exhibition in Ankara Sparks Outrage of Turkish Nationalists

ANKARA — Turkish capital Ankara’s Cankaya district hosted a photo exhibit on the Armenian Genocide, Ermenihaber.am reports.

According to Turkish Memurler.net news website, the opening ceremony of the exhibit took place on November 4 and was attended by Sezgin Tanrikulu, the assistant of the president of Turkey’s principal opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), Atilla Kart, CHP’s Konya delegate, Professor Baskin Oran and Turkey’s former Minister of Culture and Tourism Ertugrul Gunay. The exhibit organized by Cankaya’s local government bodies will run through November 22.

The exhibit entitled ‘Testimonies about the lost past of an Armenian family’ featured the photographs of Tsolak and Aram Dildilian brothers. The photographs depict the story of Dildilian family, the lives and fates of Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire and the Turkish republic, the Armenian Genocide and the exile.

According to the source the exhibit sparked outrage among several Turkish political and non-political circles. In particular, Ankara’s mayor Melih Gokcek posted the following on his Twitter account: “Shame to Cankaya’s authorities. An exhibit showcasing works of an Armenian photographer on the Armenian massacres has opened. Frankly saying, I did not expect it from you Alper Tasdelen.”

Evrensel daily, on the other hand, stressed the importance of this photo story. It noted that the photo exhibition presents the Genocide, the deportation, and the makeup of the Armenian community from 1872 through 1973.

The photo story-exhibition will be open until November 22.